Wings Across Continents (The K.LM. Amsterdam-Batavia Line) By E. Rusman KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK GESCHENK VAN 7133 - '32 WINGS ACROSS CONTINENTS (THE K.L.M. AMSTERDAM - BATAVIA LINE) AU Rights Reserved Copyright 1933 by K.LM. Printed in the Netherlands A princess of the Sultan s Courtat D]okja,ready toplay somegoddess roletnarepresentanon of the holy legends of Java Wings Across Continents (THE K.L.M. AMSTERDAM—BATAVIA LINE) by E. RUSMAN Published by ANDRIES BLITZ _ AMSTERDAM CONTENTS » _ . Pa«e Introduction . . . 7 I. A rapid fllght through Holland's History 0 II. A Bird's Eye View of Holland „ III. Amsterdam . . . 19 IV. The Summer Route through Gentral Europe .... 23 Germany * Czechoslovakia Hungary 24 Yugoslavia Zl Greece * Athens 26 V. The Winter Route through the South of Europe ... 28 France « From Marseilles to Rome 1 20 Rome ' From Rome to Athens , !!!!!!', '. 33 VI. Vla Crete to Egypt. ... ,, Crete 35 Egypt '.'.'.: 36 Cairo ^ Islam *7 40 VII. Palestlne, Trans Jordan and Iraq 43 Palestine *7 Jerusalem Trans Jordan 7X Iraq 43 Baghdad fZ ',11 Babyion 49 VIII. The Iranian Coast and North India .... cX Karachi * Jodhpur \ l * ' \ \ \ ' * ] L Hinduism 54 Buddhism 55 Jainism 56 Central India and Bengal 56 Calcutta 57 IX. Burma, Siam, Malacca and Sumatra 62 Rangoon 62 The Land of the Free People. (Siam) 64 Bangkok 65 The West Coast of Siam 68 Malaya 68 Sumatra 69 Singapore 70 Palembang 71 X. How the Dutch came to the Indles and stayed there. 73 XI. Batavia 77 XII. Glimpses of Java and Bali 80 Java 80 Bali 85 APPENDIX A few words about Air Navigation and Aeroplane Instruments . . 88 Survey Map of the Amsterdam Batavia Air Route Flying Distances 91 Comparative Times (Local Time and Greenwich Mean Time) . . 92 What passengers say about K.L.M 93 INTRODUCTION The object of this b'ttle book is threefold. fiiïi?™ " h°?Cd enhance Ph»™» of "nticipation of a fhght on our air route lmking Europe with the East. Secondly, we sin- ^ZiT* ? "5 bC Wam!d °n ^ "W" for reference: and thirdly we beheve ït will answer *h* ^fi-_^„^„*„j _ , 7 ,,TT7. ^ , — —i"-"vu «lucauun 01 our passengers: What do we see on the way ?" Our aim is, that our aeroplanes be light and make straight tor their destuiation, without thereby losingthebigcitiesfrom view. These admirable traits in an aeroplane we have also applied to our book to the best of our ability. _ Between HoUand and the Netherlands Indies the Ê^umtmAm trTrnllT61" £rectIon' ao™ n~d mak* apology for only describing tne route from Europe to the Indies. Passenger* from the East to Europe will have no difficulty in finding «KS^* T1' COUm,T °rJStfetch °f route. for *»* chapters and sub-divisions have been carefully arranged for that very purpose. Those famihar with the East may find nothing new in what we have !Lly hUij8Va ^ Bali; f°r We have ***** ™th • «Pe««l thought for come from the East to Europe for the first time. „ Jfi ?onclu810n. i4 is our earnest hope that this little book may prove souvenir11 wdV8aCe' joUme* and a Pleasant enough DoSdt you home once more' to find 3 place up°n The heart of ancient Amsterdam: Munt Square and Munt Totuer. The modern outskirts of the Dutch capital. The signal tower of Schiphol airport near Amsterdam, the starting point of the Holland— Java line. Waalhaven, the airport of Rotterdam. I A RAPID FLIGHT THROUGH HOLLAND'S HISTORY Welcome to the Netherlands! In a day or two we are to have the pleasure of your company on our K.L.M. Amsterdam—Batavia Air Line. Before you leaye we should like to teil you something of our home country. Batavia, the name of the capital of the Indies, is taken from the Batavians, earliest inhabitants of Holland, a Germanic tribe from the regions between die rivers Rhine and Maas. The Batavians, according to Tacitus, were the bravest of all the Germans. "Others go to battle," he says, "these go towar." Batavian cavalry became famous in the Roman Empire and it was their valour which turned the ode of battle for Caesar at Pharsalia; and even down to the time of Vespasian the Batavian legion supplied the Imperial Bodyguard. North of the Batavians dwelt the Frisians, independent of Rome. After the great migration of the natibns, the Batavians amalgamated with tribes, which had come from the east. South of the Friaians now the Franks lived, whilst to the east of them were the Saxons. From a fusion of these people was born the Dutch nation we know to-day. It was a barbaric world to which came Charlemagne, that mighty missionary, banishing paganism with the best argument for those rough days, the edge of the sword. Next the Northmen swept the land, bringing a relapse to barbarism, but the growth of a feudal system arising from the decentralised Carlovingian state ushered in a new era. Amongst the chief feudal lords were the Counts of Holland, for in the year 922 Charles the Simple gave "Holland" by letters patent to one Count Dirk, and this narrow strip of land was extended along the whole western coast forming an almost inaccessible robber state aurrounded by lakes and morasses. Very interesting indeed is the development of dyke building in the I3th and i4th centuries. Generation after generation fought against the waters — often they were overwhelmed — often they saw the work of years destroyed in the twinkling of an eye. Untiringly the people fought against nature, but organization was lacking until institutions were formed for the common weal to fight the common foe, which threatenedtodestroy the homeland. Central boards of control were formed presided over by a Dyke-Reeve and with owners of polder land, whose lands were protected by the same dykes or drained by the same sluices, as members. II A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF HOLLAND There is no fïner way of taking a geography lesson than from an armchair in an aeroplane lome 5000 feet above the earth. There lies your map bright with its natural colours, and there are your roads along which anthke traffic creeps. There are the winding rivers like streams of quicksilver, and the most tortuously planned of ancient towns lie revealed like some specimen of the mediaeval mapmaker's art Let us suppose we are viewing Holland from above its centre. We are over Utrecht and we can see almost to the frontiers on all sides. I^Ésk y^**** is. » university town, clustering round its Cathedral and it also 18 a junction from which radiate railway lines ^ m all directions likesomanyfinelydrawnpencillines.InMarch and September die Utrecht Industries Fair attracts the world of trade not only from Holland but from most other countries as well «V.TMn8 )n°rthwards we 8ee *• "Zuider Zee», more correctly the Ysei Meer for it is no longer a sea. A soliddyke,stretchingfromNorth Hol and across Wienngen to Friesland has .hut out the waters of the North Sea for ever. Holland has wrested a new province from the hungry Jhs^S. seaf !.0nf PoWer. Ae Wieringermeer, has already been •'Ifslï T reclaimed and ye"ow corn waives, where but a short time ago the grey waters rolled. What then of the Dead Cities of the Zuider Zee, where magnificent mansions of dead merchant princes are inhabited only by the ghosts of those, whoonce thronged the streets of busy seaports? What, too, of Marken, the island where quaint national dress is still the vogue ? Look at that spot of vivid green amongst the waters, behind which rises the semed array of roofs which marks the city of Amsterdam. That is the island of Marken and near it, on the coast, are Volendam and Edam ancient harbour towns which will lose their individual charm and become country towns m a new polder area. The old order changeth inving place to new Successors of Maurice Chevalier and Harold Lloyd will no longer be able to pose between charming fisher girls in white headdresses wide skirts and wooden shoes and later produce the photograph m Hollywood as typical of HoUand. Perhaps it is as well, for there* another HoUand, a power in the world of finance, whose ships are on every sea and whose flying merchant-venturers deave the uncharted oceans of the air. The Holland, too, that drains the Zuider Zee and administrates the second Colonial Empire of the World. To the west are three coastal provinces, North Holland, South Holland and Zeeland. Between shimmering sea and green countryside a white line is traced, this is the shore and the dunes protecting land from water. Here is the Holland which the foreigner is most apt to visualise, green meadows rigidly divided into rectangles by ditches, with here and there, as a reliëf to the eye, a broad meandering river wandeling between dykes to the sea. To the south are fantastically shaped islands of South Holland and Zeeland, encircled by broad arms of the sea. Then Rotterdam, the city of second importance in the Netherlands. Inland the river tm which this city is situated, is called the Lek, nearer the sea the New Waterway. ... On the Waterweg lies Schiedam, famous for the distillenes of Holland's far-famed spirits. mbb— Behind the line of dunes, broken by Scheveningen, at which seaside resort Charles Ilembarkedtotakethecrown of England atthe Restoration in 166o, the Hague is situated, residence of the Queen and seat of the Netherlands Government. It is indeed a beautiful city where in the Peace Palace the Permanent Court of International Justice has its home. South again is Delft, town of sleep y waterways and ancient humpbacked bridges. In its beautiful "New Church" rests William of Orange, the liberator of the Netherlands. Outside the city there are numerous modern industries and here stul is made the famous "Delft" china. More to the North are Leiden and Haarlem in the heart of the bulb country. Favourable weather early in March brings yellow, white and purplecrocuses, and soon afterwards the daffodils. Even when flying high above these wonderful flower fields, the scent is often almost overpowering. When hyacinths and early tulips flower, there is a vivid not of colour and scent. Hyacinth fïelda in broad strips of red, white, blue, pink, purple and yellow look like flags of all nations laid out to dry, and the massed tulips seem like rare carpets spread amidst the meadows in the * This gigantic flower border runs along the pasture land of North and South Holland, famed for its black and white cattle. They produce the milk, from which the butter and cheese are made, for which HoUand is justly renowned. Here pools and fens have been kept drained by windmills, those strong giants which have been landmarks of the Lowlands for centuries. Many remain, but many more have been dismantled at a time when it was thought that mechanical power would do the work more efficiently. Recently, however, technical improvements m the old mills themselves lead us to hope that their day is not yet over. _ . , Turing to the south of the Netherlands, North Brabant, the further side of the three great rivers Rhine, Waal and Maas, shows as amedleypf green meadowland, brown heather, dark pines and, by contrast, brtlliant A pleasant, lake-surrounded suburb of Rotterdam. Along the skyway. The port of Vlissingen, where Holland'$ most famous admiral Michiel de Ruyter was bom. rv THE SUMMER ROUTE THROUGH CENTRAL EUROPE As the crow flies, the way from Amsterdam to Athens is across central Europe. Climatic conditions, as experience has taught, may be very unpleasant on tbi8 stretch during winter, so we fly that way from the ist of May to the ist of November only. Taking off from Amsterdam on our aerial voyage to the Indies, we fly across a corner of North Holland. Look out of the window towards Muiden, where the little winding river Vecht loses itself in the IJsel Meer, near the Muider Castle. There, too, is the Naarder Meer, a bit of unviolated country known to bird lovers as a sanctuary of water fowl, rare in other parts of Europe. Gooiland, a patchwork of golden sands, fir trees almost black by contrast, brown moorlands and emerald meadows, passes beneath us and we see the ancient fortress of Naarden, an immense stone star with six symmetncal bastions, with its ramparts and encircling canals. We pass Soesterberg, the military aerodrome, birthplace of Holland's aviation. Guelderland, the name of which reminds English people of a familiar hedgerow tree, the guelder rose, is a region of red-roofed farms, snuggling amongst trees along narrow roadways. As we cross this province we see Zutphen, with the famous Walburgkerk and its library. Books with iron chains fastened to their wooden bindings, which are old as the art of printing itself, lie here upon ancient oaken readmg desks to which they are so firmly attached. GERMANY Westphalia bordering the Netherlands has no outstanding natural beauties. Over Munster we wing our way and the old Cathedral there will give the Dutch passenger food for thought. The Anabaptists with their leader Jan van Leiden once attempted to found the New Jerusalem there. English-speaking passengers will probably connect Westphalia with a succulent sort of ham. Crossing the river Ems, the wooded southern spurs of the Teutoburger Wald come into view. Here in the year A.D. 9 Arminius defeated Varus and his Roman legiona. We cross the Weser and fly along the southern slopes of the Hartz mountains to the airport of Halle/Leipzig. Then over theErzgebirge.thehighest chain of which forms the natural boundary of CZECHOSLOVAKIA This is a country of mountains, upon which castles perch perilously like eagles' nests, above big or small industrial towns. Prague seen from the air is an impressive sight; Hradsjin, the Royal stronghold, dominates the town. It is situated on a hill near the river, a maze of palaces and churches, from which the tower of the St. Veiths Cathedral rises to a height of 300 feet. The Hradsjin and the bridge over the Moldau, are monuments around which centres Bohemia's past. The bridge, with its fortress gates and its statues, is a remarkable structure. Emperor Charles V laid the fitst stone in 1357 and no restoration was needed until 1890. HUNGARY Budapest, the capital of Magyarorzag, as the inhabitants call their country, is still, despite hard times, what it has always been, the gay and splendourloving, yet imposing city on the „blonde" Danube. (The Hungarians describe their river otherwise than Stratus.) From the air the beauty of the city's site is at once apparent. Buda (or Of en) on the right bank of the Danube, embowered in wooded hills with a background of mountains, has its Burg, (the enormous Royal Palace) the Fischerbastei, the Church of the Coronation and the gay St. Gellerts baths with their artificial waves. Buda is connected by a multitude of bridges with Pest on the other bank of the Danube. The finest is the Elisabeth Bridge, spanning the river with a single arch. In Pest upon the left bank stands the Parliament building, one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe. Budapest is the Paris of eastern Europe. Here are gypsy melodies, sweet wines of Tokay, and paprika-seasoned dishes, and, as an offset to these, health-giving natural waters, mud baths, sunbathing and, in fact, all sorts of enjoyment. Contrast, as you fly on, the bustle of the city with the loneliness of BUDAPEST 1. Elisabeth Square 2. Redoute Building (Inquiry Office) 3. Donau Quay 4- Hotel Hung'ary 5. Hotel Donau Palace 6. Hotel St. Gellert and St. Gellert Bath 7- Post & Telegraph Office 8. Town Hall 9- St. Stephan's Cathedral 10. Opera 11. National Museum 12. Art Museum 13. Metropolitan Museum 14. Museum of Agriculture 15. Milennium Memorial 16. "Künsterhaus" (Art Exhibition Hall) 17. Exhibition Hall 18. Zoölogical Garden 19. Szechenyi Bath 20. Academy of Science 21. Ludoviceum (Military Academy) 22. Parliament 23. Exchange 24. Palatinus Bath 25. Margaret Bridge 26. Chain Bridge 27. Elisabeth Bridge 28. Franz Joseph Bridge 29. (former) Royal Castle 30. Cable Way 31. Coronation Church 32. "Fischerbastei" (Fisherman's Bastion) 33. Tunnel 34. Citadel 35. Kiosk (Restaurant) 36. East Railway Station 37. West Railway Station 38. South Railway Station 39. Goods Railway Station. Prague, view of the Hradsjin. The Gerlachorka, highest mountain of Tschechoslovakia. m Rome, the Via dell' Impero, leading from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. The Castello Sant' Angelo in Rome tvith its ancients ramparts. Impressive, too, is the old en trance to the HUI of Temples, the Propyleae to the side of which stands the lovely Utde temple to Athene Nike, the Unwinged Victory. South west of the Acropolis against the slope of the hiU are the ruins of the theatre of Dionysos, God of Wine and patron of the theatre. There, too, is the Odeon, temple of music, which stül stands firm with massive walls. It has Roman arches and three stage doors. On the site of the old town we find a marveUously weU-preserved temple in Doric style. It is named the Theseion, but mis refers to the reliëfs upon it, representing the feats of Theseus. To what God this temple was dedicated will no doubt, ever remain a fascinating mystery. Fifteen gigantic Corinthian pUlars at the foot of the Acropolis bear mute witness to the largest Greek temple ever buUt, the temple of the Olympian Zeus. These are the sole remaining piUars of one hundred and four ,which supported the temple. They are nearly 55 feet in height. The Emperor Hadrian completed the temple in 129 A.D. It stood in the suburbs, which the Emperor caused to be extended and beautified, and the gate he built with such pride still stands. On the inner side was written "This is Athens, once the town of Theseus", and on the outer face one read the proud words "This is not the town of Theseus but of Hadrian". Not far away is the only building of ancient Greece, which has been completely restored, the Stadium, where the Olympic Games of 1896 were held. The Tower of the Winds is a weU preserved building with its eight marble walls decorated with reliëfs representing the winds, each facing one of the points of the compass. Formerly a revolving Triton stood upon the roof, rod in hand, to indicate the wind direction. This early meteorological institute is near the Gate of the Agora, consisting of five columns and a fragmentary roof, all that is left of 'he entrance to one of the smaller markets. Athens, as might be expected, is acity of Museums, many of which are weU worth a visit. The one upon the Acropolis, however, deserves special attention. V THE WINTER ROUTE THROUGH SOUTHERN EUROPE From the ist of November to the ist of May we fly via France and Italy to Greece, as during the winter better weather may be expected on this route than in Central Europe. Over the Netherlands this way takes us over the polders of North and South Holland and the heath-land of Brabant. South of Schiphol Airport it is a strange and unfamiliar sight to see the sun gleam on field after field of glassl Here, snug in countless hot-houses, bloom delicate roses, lilac, almond blossom and Japanese cherry. This part of Holland is all meadows and water. We fly over the fenlands of Nieuwkoop, the Old Rhine and Boskoop with its famous nurseries, the IJsel, the Lek, the Merwede and the Biesbosch, a perfect maze of waterways. Over Belgium the route leads over Herenthals and Namur. The latter at the confluence of Maas and Sambre is a large manufacturing town — a dark blotch on the fair landscape of the Ardennes. We pass swiftly over the hills, over fields of yellow loamy soil, grey rocks and pine forests. There are also groves of beeches and oaks, which keep their brown leaves until late in the Spring. FRANCE Across France the route first leads us over uninteresting hills, then the forest of Argonne and the Plareau de Langres, and so to Joinville and Dijon. Past Dijon and further south the summits of the Jura and the Alpsriseto meetus, and even at this great distance the snow-covered heights of Mont Blanc can be seen rising proudly above all others. For more than 300 km (185 miles) of our route this mighty mountain may remain in sight. East of Lyons we cross the Rhone and it is interesting to see that here all the fields are sheltered by hedges, which invariably run due east and west as a protection against the dreaded Mistral. We pass Orange, princedom of William the Silent, the cradle of Holland's Royal House, and we see one of the largest and best preserved Roman theatres with its colossal facade with its walls, 12 feet (4 metres) thick still undamaged. At Avignon may be seen the strong and gloomy castle of the "Avignon Popes" who dwelt there from 1309 to 1377 in exile from Rome. FROM MARSEILLES TO ROME Marignane, the aerodrome of Marseilles, is now at hand. In clear weather the view of the Mediterranean and the fantastic coastline of Provence is indeed lovely from the air. There is the busy harbour of Marseilles and the Chateau d'Yf, the naval port of Toulon and the whole panorama of the Riviera — land of sun and flowers. In the far distance, even, may be seen the Hes d'Hyères, Cannes, Nice, Monaco and Mentone. Next we wing our way over Corsica, Buonaparte's birthplace, island of bandits, home of the romantic but inconvenient vendetta and above all — of flowers! It is not difficult to weave romantic fancies around these half hidden villages of the mountains. Probably we shall catch a glimpse of Bastia on the east coast, but not of Ajaccio, the capital. Elba, where Napoleon brooded in exile, can be seen in the distance and our route — surely we ride the magie carpet — lies directly over Monte Cristo, a rock in the blue sea, known to every lover of Alexandre Dumas père. ROME It is a breath-taking spectacle to see the City of the Seven Hills loom up from the flat Campagna di Roma and to recognise its world-famed monuments from the air. On the right bank of the winding Tiber the Vatican is situated. There is the enormous copula of St. Peter's and the Castle of St. Angelo. On the left the great white monument to Victor Emmanuel I and the remains of Ancient Rome — the Theatre of Marcellus, the Forum, the Collosseum. It is indeed hard to judge, how great and awe-inspring Rome must have been in her prosperity. Even after centuries of vandalism and decay the mere remains can fill us with wonder and admiration. Much has been changed in Rome in recent times. A decree of "II Duce" has completely freed the ancient city from inharmonious architectural additions, constructed in later centuries. At the beginning of 1930 Mussolini ordered a road to be made connecting the Piazza Venezia with Ostia, the harbour of Ancient Rome. This tremendous undertaking was cere, which is buik within a temple to some heathen god, are the reeën tl y discovered ruins of two other temples. The road continues to the Piazza della Bocca della Verita, where near the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, is the beautiful little circular temple known as the temple of Vesta with its well preserved Parian marble pillars, twenty in number, crowned with Corinthian capitals. The starting point of another new road is at the Piazza Venetia. The first part of this road has been opened under the name of the Via dell' Impero and eventually it will lead to the Albanian Hills. The commencement of this road leading straight to the Colosseum, with some of the principal monuments of classic Rome on either side, is wonderfully well designed. It is 200 me tres wide and more than half this space is occupied by flower beds. Letuspause a moment before the Forum of Trajan — In the foreground is the tremendous Market Hall of the Emperor, then the pillars of the Basilica Ulpia — but dominating all else is Trajan's Column. On it are magnificent carvings representing the Emperor's campaigns against the Dacians, in that trans-Danubian territory, roughly corresponding to modern Roumania, which was then called Dacia. The whole forms an unbroken, enthralling, accurate and vivid history in stone. To the right, as we follow our road, is the Capitoline hill again, and at itsfootthe remains of Caesar's Forum and the Temple of Venus Genetrix from whom the Julii claimed descent. Next we come to the Churches of San Luca and San Adriano, the latter being the Old Roman Curia. Passing the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, ten splendid columns of which are preserved and which houses to-day the the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, we pass to the mighty Forum of Augustus, the high pillars of the Temple of Mars Ultor, built in 42 B.C. after the Battle of Philippi, and the Forum of Nerva. High above all stands the medieval tower of the Colonnas. Just past the junction of our road with the Via Cavour is a terrace laid out with gardens, from which a magnificent view of Ancient Rome may be obtained. Opposite the terrace is a remarkable building, the Basilica of Constantine. A small ancient street with a wall on one side runs along the apse; both wall and street were discovered in the course of excavations. Past the Convent of Santa Maria Nuova is the Colosseum, so named from a colossal statue of Nero which formerly stood there. The Colosseum was completed under the Emperor Titus in 80 A.D. and its sinister baptism was celebrated in the blood of thousands of men and wild animals at the inaugural gladiatorial games. A moonlight visit to this slaughter-haunted spot is unforgettable. It nee cis little imagination to conjure up the closely packed bloodlusting spectators, gladiators heavily armed or with the net and trident, the wild beasts and the thunderous cry "Ave! Imperator, Morituri te salutant!" "Hail, Emperor, those about to die salute thee!" Looking from the Colosseum towards the Forum Romanum we see to the left the triumphal Arch of Constantine, the best preserved arch in Rome. The Porch of the Caryatids on the Acropolis of Athens. them. Suffice it to say that they are some 5000 years old and that the four great tnangles, marking the boundaries of the pyramid of Cheops indicate, m-wioiji cvcu our most up to date aero-compass cannot better, the four points of the compass, the entrance being to the north. Sultans have robbed it of its covering layer of gleaming limestone slabs which were used in the constructions, of the citadel and mosques of Cairo. The gigantic head of the Sphynx has beenmutilatedby the Mamelukes, who used it as a target for their cannon. CAIRO Originally Cairo was a town, built by the armies of Cambyses in 525 B.C. In 641 A.D. one of the generals of Csliph Omar conquered this town and built another, Al Fostat, beside it, which is now known as Old Cairo. The third town was founded by Gohar, who conquered Egypt for Caliph AlMo-Ezz in 969 — this town was called Al Kahira, "the triumphant", whence modern Cairo received its name. The fourth and latest addition, Heliopolis, City of the Sun, is a suburb, DuU* l9°5 in the desert — and here lies Almaza, the airport of Cairo! The streets of Cairo are always intriguing. Here one may see the inhabitants in long cotton gowns or in European dress, rendered less drab by the bnght red tarboosh, and the country fellahin in dark blue shirt and brown cloak. Here too is the Sheik, in pointed red or yellow slippers and embroidered robes. What few women are to be seen, wear long black cloaks and a veil, which leaves only the eyes visible at either side of the golden nose-piece. There is a "dragoman" or interpreter at every corner with whom, if the services of such a guide are required, it ia well to come to terms in advance. The usual charge for half a day is 40 piastres plus the inevitable "backsheesh". Anyone wishing to watch the busy streets undisturbed or who feels a craving for "the fleshpots of Egypt", will do well to seek shelter on the well known terrace of the famous Shepheards hotel, the centre of European social life in the Near East. The bazaar quarter is interesting. From the Ataba-el-Khadra, which most visitors take as their central point, a fairly wide street, the Muski, runs through the bazaar, and there are narrow little aide-streets with tiny shops, before which the wares are mostly displayed in the street itself. Near the Kasr-el-Nil Bridge is the Egyptian Museum, where wonderful treasures are to be seen. In 1857 the Frenchman Mariette founded this coUection, at a time when there was neither money nor interest for such things m Egypt. Grateful after all for his care of her treasures, Egypt has erected a statue to him in the garden in front of the Museum. In the great central hall of the Museum are stone images of the ancient Kings and Queens.The statue of Chephren, the Pyramid buUder, in green diorite, gives a vivid impression of the strength and freedom of art 5000 years ago. The image of Princess Nefert in one of the groundfloor rooms creates an even deeper and more personal impression, Simple, yet with all the charm of a Parisian beauty of to-day, this Princess of 3000 years before Christ obviously belonged to a period of highly cultured men and women. The colours are as bright as though the artist had but a moment ago laid down his brush. Then there is an excellent wooden figure called the Sheik-el-Beled (vülage headman), an expressive likeness of any selfconscious, shy, yet pompous, petty functionary of any age or clime. Next the scribe, squatting crosslegged, his eyes shrewdly turned upwards to his master's face, a statue which is equally admirable and lifelike. Excellent too are the sculptured animals and beast-headed human f igures. So cleverly and harmoniously are these latter executed, that we can almost pursuade ourselves, that they walked amongst men in those far-off days, when even the Gods were younger. But in latter centuries we see how tradition more and more restricted art, until a wearisome reiteration in the innumerable figures of Rameses II for example, was the result. For a short period the heretic King Ichnaton (Amenophis IV) brought about an artistic revolution. He had his image — not as a man-god — but as a human being faithfully reproduced, with ill-shapen hip and pointed chin, and a head, too large at the back for the usual standardised godlike proportions of the Pharaoh statues. He does not live as a too perfect Pharaoh in art, but as the husband of beauteous Nefertiti, and a happy human being. The upper floor of the Museum contains relics of ancient Egypt's princes and aristocracy; to their care for the welfare of the soul after death we owe this magnificent collection. All that was necessary or delightful in life, was given to the embalmed departed one after death. Hence such treasures as the golden death mask of Tut-ankh-Amen, the symbolic lamps, vases and incense vessels of alabaster, and many another rare object. Amongst the papyri, the Book of the Dead is the most notable. It relates the journey of one Ani as a soul to the paradise of the West, the dangers that beset him and, as a final trial, the weighing of his heart and the Judgment of the Gods. The royal mummies are no longer available for public inspection and special permission must be obtained. The Museum is open daily except on Mondays, and it has a department where antiquities and reproductions may be purchased. Across the Kasr-el-Nil Bridge is the garden island of Gezira, a fayourite place for walking and motoring; and on another Nile island, Roda, is the ancient Nilometer, dating from the oth century, indicating the height of the river. Nearby is the spot, where Moses is said to have been found in the rushes. Mussuiman Cairo is of great interest and many of the mosques, where the faithful may only enter barefoot, after washing the feet, and where the unbeliever must draw slippers over his shoes, are impressive and of rare beauty. Palestine. The volley of Kyriath Aniwiem with Zionist settlements. The river Jordan meandering towards the Dead Sea. An oasis slowly disappearing under the sands. 1. Residenceof H.M. the King 2. Government Buildings ("Serail") 3. Citadel and Army Headquarters 4. Customs Offices 5. Customs Post for Overland Route 6. Houses of Parliament 7. Baghdad West Railway Station 8. Baghdad East Railway Station 9. Baghdad North Railway Station 10. Municipal Offices 11. British Embassy 12. Headquarters Royal Air Force 13. French Consulate 14. German Consulate 15. American Consulate 16. Iranian Consulate 17. Cavalry Barracks 18. Royal Hospital and Medical School 19. Civil Isolation Hospital 20. Jail 21. Museum 22. Mirjan Mosque 23. Maude Station 24. Tomb of Zobaide 25. Tomb of Sheikh Ma'ruf 26. Tomb of Sheikh Omar 27. BabalWastani(ruinedgate) 28. Bab al Talism (ruined gate) 29. Suq el Ghazil Minaret 30. Bazars 31. Tigris Palace Hotel 32. Maude Hotel 33. Central Post Office 34- Central Telegraph Office 35- Thos. Cook & Sons 36. EasternBank 37- Imperia! Bank of Iran 38. Ottoman Bank 39. "The Bookship" 40. Armenian Quarters mass of bricks, the remains of a temple tower of Dur Kurigalzu, a longdead city. Its interest lies beneath the surface, for here is almost virgin territory for the archaeologist. Some 20 miles south-east of Baghdad our course leads over the Arch of Ctesiphon, on the east bank of the Tigris. This astonishing vaulted structure, bearing the remnants of a decorated gable with niches and pilasters, is all that time has spared of the Hall of Audience of King Chosroes I who, in 531, mounted the throne of the Kingdom known to the Romans as Pontus. There was a time when two great and wealthy cities lay opposite each other — Ctesiphon and Seleucia. The inhabitants, Parthians, had obtained their independence from Persian rule and they founded a state, which was to last for 800 years. This state had almost as much influence in Asia Minor as Rome, especially after Ardeschir, a Persian, again acquired sovereignty over the country and founded the powerful dynasty of the Sassanides, to which King Chosroes belonged. Incredibly rich was this land of the Parthians and, as ever, fame of gold brought besiegers to its gates. Many Roman Emperors plundered the land, but «ie cities always recovered gloriously. In the end it was Islam which triumphed, for Saad took Ctesiphon by surprise in 637 and for the first time the praise of Allah re-echoed from the blue, star-strewn roof of the mighty Hall of Audience, designed to represent the Vault of Heaven. Fabulous was the booty that feil to the conquerors. Weapons encrusted with gems, a horse of gold with emerald teeth, a gold bridle and silver saddle and a silver camel with a gold foal, were amongst the treasures, but these were as nothing compared with the carpet of the royal banqueting hall. It is said to have represented a garden with golden ground and silver paths, meadows of emeralds and rivulets of pearls, die trees, fruit and flowers being diamonds. Further south, on the Tigris, in the middle of the endless desert, hes Kut-el-Amara, where General Townsend was besieged by the Turks while a litde to the east a relieving army was forced to retreat, near Sheik Saad. Overcome by hunger, the British force was at last obliged to surrender. . . Between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf the flight is over such intolerably flat country, that anything three-dimensional is a welcome diversion, whether it be a caravan, a group of nomad tents, an Arab on horseback or even the skeleton of a camel. Thesightofasmalltown like Imara is gratifying to the eyes, surrounded as it is by extensive palm groves and cornfields, while high above all sparkles s blue-tiled minaret. Kurna should suggest thoughts of Paradise for here, at the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates, legend places the Garden of Eden. It may be, but only date palms grow there now. Certainly they flourish abundantly, for Basra, from which port Sinbad the Sailor voyaged, exports dates in enormous quantities. After crossing a great area of swamps, peopled by Marsh-Arabs and haunted by flamingo and other exotic fowl, the way bes near enough to Iran: The Volley of Rudi-i-Mehran. jfask on the Persian Gulf. The black rocks of Ras-el-Jebel. Pearl fishers on the swelling waves of the Persian Gulf. Mohammerah for us to catch a glimpse of something a little more modern: the Anglo Iranian oil refineriea. Soon after this the mud flats of the Iranian Gulf coast are reached. BABYLON Babyion, 55 miles south of Baghdad, near the village of Hillah, too far away from our route to be seen from the aeroplane, is a place of desolation in uie scorching sun; a chaos of crumbling walls and heaps of tumbled stones. „Babyion, that great city, is f allen, is fallen!" The prophecies that Isaiah thundered against the pomp and pride of the city, have indeed found fubfilment to the letter. Here 3000 years before Christ stood the capital of the land of the two rivers, a region rich and ferme as the fruitful Egyptian delta of the Nile. On that early Babyion we have more than a little information. Hammurabi, the lawgiver, (2067—3025 B.C.) caused bis code to be graven upon 49 stone cylinders in cuneïform script. These came to light in 1902 and told of the careful regulation of matters concerning contracts, inheritance, relations between master and servant, and the like. Severe penalties were inflicted for theft, bribery and' other crimes. It was Sennacherib, King of Assyria, he who came down like a wolf on the fold, who rased this first city to the ground. When the iron grasp of Assyria relaxed, Nabopalazzar and Nebuchadnezzar I, his son, restored the city to its ancient splendour. The latter built colossal walls aroundit, of which Herodotus said that a carriage with four horses could turn upon the top. The hanging gardens, one of the Wonders of the World, were also his work. It is pleasant to believe the legend, that when his Queen pined for her homeland-mountains with their flowers and trees, the Great King said "Let there be a terraced mountain here with trees and flowers." The ruina we see to-day are those of the Babyion of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Great, conqueror of Jerusalem — the Babyion of Daniël and of the Babylonian capnvity of the Jews. The city feil into gradual decay when Seleucus, General of Alexander, founded Seleucia on the Tigris. The German Professor Koldewey worked here for 20 years; his headquarters on the river-bank, which he left at the beginning of the War, are now a museum for visitórs. From this spot a view is obtained of the mighty ruin known as El Kasr, the Casde; the place is well named, for the excavations have established, that this was the palace-fortress of King Nebuchadnezzar, and the plan of the palace has been accurately traced. In the middle was the throne hall with three arched entrances, where Belshazzarsaw upon the wall the flaming legend "Menen, tekel upharzin " Follow the Sacred Road past the palace and the principal Temples. At the begmning of the road is the well known basalt lion crushing a man. This was probably a trophy of some war against the Hittites, for there is no stone m Babyion, nor indeed anywhere in this part of Mesopotamia. The Istar Gate, where the great inner walls of the town meet, is decorated with magnificent reliëfs of the bulls and dragons of the God Marduk. Wings Across Continents 4 Between the inner and outer town walls the space can still be seen where, it ia thought, the lions were let loose: the very place where Daniël walked unharmed amongst the ravening beasts. Past the ruines of the Temple of Ninmak, and those of the palace and die temple of Istar, die road runs to the Temple of the High God Marduk — called the House of the Foundation Stone of Heaven and Earth — the Tower of Babel. It is not a tower to-day but a pit full of water and the reason for this is interesting. Temples were for some obscure religieus reason, constructed of sun-dried bricks of loam, whereas the town walls, for example, were made of f urnace baked brick. Your attention will probably be drawn to the ruined vaults just here, which are said to have been the foundations of the hanging gardens; and where the river formerly ran, before it changed its course into a more westerly channel, are the remains of Nabopalazzar's bridge joining the two parts of the city. Only a few miserable palm trees survive to remind us of the fields and gardens of that once fertile country, where the Jews "sat down and wept beside the waters of Babyion" because it was their dolorous task to keep these waters free from silt. VIII THE IRANIAN COAST AND NORTHERN INDIA As we fly above the green waters of the Iranian Gulf and the blue Arabian Sea, we never lose sight of the mountains bordering the Tableland of Iran, which form the wild coastline. Here and there are ports such as Bushire with lts whitewashed houses and occasional green spots, which are inner courts with shady trees and fountains There » also an airport at Bushire. If a landing is made, the travelier will see another new type of hat. Instead of the immemorial headgear of Iran, one sees eyerywhere die new Pahlevi cap, which all the Shah's male subjects are obliged to wear. Some hundreds of miles further to the south-east lies the httle harbour ot Langen. Here, m a region of green seas, with an occasional white sail breakmg their monotony and with an unbroken coastline of grey, white or red mountains, the little town has a friendly air with its old Portuguese tortress and its white houses embowered in palm trees against a background of sandhills. Next we come to the isle of Qishm, where there are sdt-mines, and to Ras-el-Jebel a wdd peninsula of dark rocks jutting far out into the Iranian Oult from the Arabian side. Eastwards lies Jask, a very small place, owing its existence mainly to its British cable station, but declining in importance on account of the ever extending wireless Communications. lhe coast of Baluchistan is dry, dead and bare: gigantic mountains, dazzhng m their whiteness, with shadows of the deepest black. It is as though one were flying over a landscape of the moon rather than above a porüon of our friendly Mother Earth. uil*'6 UuS- Gwadaf; uP°n "»e beach huge numbers of dead sharks are lett to gnll m the sun until their fins become palatable to the Chinese. KARACHI The western gate of India for all air traffic is Karachi. The town itsetf, Aough rather clean and modern, has litde of the romance 7tL Parsee wo^fj*-- V* 8ees ^ b*™*™ o^rtt l i k m y"0"' o* P«le Pink robes falling in graceful hnes about their slender figures, so that they look like Tanfgra Jodhpur: the hustle in the streets, the galery ofheroes and the airport, one of the finest of India. A typical North Indian temple. The holy river Ganges. 1. Citadel and Old Palace 2. Palace of H.M. the Maharaja 3- State Hotel 4- Railway Station 5- Jubilee Court 6. Rajput School 7' Ratanada Palace 8. New Palace, under construction. 9- Polo Ground 10. Artificial Lake of Balsamand 11. City Gates «~ Mahamandir was UïSSfotSSE***--* "guru" (spiritual guide) Devenathji. Kaga, north of the Nagori Gate, is famous for its garden and the purity of its water, and an annual fair is held there in honour of Sietla Mata, a goddess protecting men against smallpox. Halfway between Jodhpur and the old capita! Mandore, lies Balsamand, a beautiful artificial lake surrounded by palaces, but Mandore has f allen into ruin. Centuries after its abandonment however, the princes of Marwar were burned there and the rows of "devals" or monuments i are of interest. The six principal ones stand in a straight line from south to north. Behind the ruins of the fort, a terrace, Punch Kund, is much frequented by Hindu pilgrims. Here is the richly carved cenotaph of Rao Ganga, near an ancient temple. Here, too, is the monument to Jodhpur's founder, and to the south of Punch Kund are the monuments to the Marwar queens. The gallery of heroes is worth a visit. It dates from the first half of the i8th century and contains sixteen large statues of Indian gods, warriors, princes and priests. HINDUISM Any description of the temples of India would be incomplete without a few words about the religions of the country. The predominant religion of India is Hinduism with its 316 million adherents, and side by side with it is Mohammedanism introduced by the Moslem Emperors, the Great Moguls, with close on 70 million devotees. The Hindu or Brahmin faith is exceedingly complicated. Since a time ao centuries before Christ, Brahmin priests have developed an intricate creed out of an original belief in 33 natural divinities. Their doctrines are contsined in the Sanskrit Vedas, and one of their outstanding beliefs is in transmigration of souls, which even comprises the possible re-incarnation of a human soul in the body of a lower animal. For this reason the killing of animals is forbidden. One result of the religion is that the of people from the highest to the lowest are rigidly divided into castes. This system has created great difficulties in modern India and has been attacked by some high-caste Hindus, notably Ghandi. It is the andthesis of western ideas of democracy. The principal Hindu divinities are Brahma the Creator, represented as a four-faced figure, surveying the four quarters of the uni verse simultaneously; Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer, Lord of Death. The temples symbolise the gods they are dedicated to; the entrance to Vishnu's temples face the rising sun; Siva's the setting sun; whilst those of Brahma are open on all four sides. Temples are not only dedicated to the Gods themselves but also to their incarnations on earth — for example to Krishna, the eighth earthly incarnation of Vishnu. In all the temples of North India, however large and maimificent the onginal design of die first simple structure may be traced^e^IiS temples were small, square, wooden enclosures with very hiah on LaÏr rht °f S3**00 StemS bOUDd t0«ether -d thaS i re'df £ w 3me teST WaS Carried out m 8tM*> the high roof being called' The Slkhara very ornamental) often ^ 8maü s.kha tal c o walls, and the porch or mandapam rest. on columns. Somethnes instead of being an open porch it si a closed buüding Bomet"nes m- BUDDHISM Prince Siddharta Gautama, born in 550 B.C. in Nepal in theHimalayas.wasbroughtup in the usual luxury of princes. Hewassostruck, however, by the suff èrings of the poor and humble, that he left wealth, home, wifeand child to acquire clarity of viaionin the solitude of the iungle. For seven years he wandered, hoping to solve the mystery of human existence and suffering, by mortification and meditation. At the end of this period, after a nioht nf — O". uien- 1 ^ tal suffering under a Bodhi, or wild fia-tree in the wnnrt „fr. « . My spint was freed from the stain of sensual deïe, * ' «Mv ^ me stain of earthJy existence, ««^y*8Pfu W8S freed from «tain of ignorance. «rï- t hbtfatJd.one 081116 me knowledge "I am free". ibis 1 reahsed m the last watch of the night Ignorance was overcome, Enlightenment came to me, ine darkness was scattered, Light broke through *or I was filled with fire, Master over myself " « ?uteuCher repaired to Beaares and in the sö-called Deernark now Sarnath, he announced his discovery to the five ascetics wh> had ***** «presentations ™ ï i *heJh,Story^ *?*dh*' T«« tbre* topmost terraces are round, unwalled and decorated with small bell-shaped cupolas of stone trelliswork each enclosmg a Buddha image. Above all is the plain, undecorated dagoba, crownmg the building. From the foregoing description it will be clear that the building has no intenor. e *u ta /0thef Tandent «>niantic temples and temple ruina in Java: the Mendut (near Borobudur), the Prambanan, the Tjandi Sewu (diousand temples), Tjandi Panataram north of Biltar in Kediri, the mentioned "tjandis" of the Dieng-plateau and near Modjokerto the excavations of the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Madjapahit. Next we come to the princedoms of Djokjakarta and Surakarta. The residences of die Sultans in the two capitals are almost towns in themselves with thousands of inhabitants and with enclosing walls that it takes over an hour to walk round. Nowhere is found more beautiful "batik" work, the special and intricate dyeing of robes and garments, than in these capitals — and nowhere in Java does the art of dancing reach a higher artistic level than at these courts where it is practised by dancers of royal blood, "bedojos" and "srimpis". There too is the wonderful art of the "wsjong wong" of the Sultan's Court at Djokja, theatrical performances based on the old Javanese legends of heroes and gods. Wajang wong means wajang "with people" to distinguish is from the wajang games in which dolls and shadows are the performers. In the latter case, little f igures, wonderfully intricate, are cut out of gilded and painted buffalo-leather to represent the heroes and princesses of legend. Behind a screen stands the "blentjong" or wajang lamp beside the "dalang", who recites the drama and works the puppets. A curious custom is that the men sit in front of the screen and see the figures themselves, whereas the women sit behind it and see only the shadows thrown on the screen. The euphonious music of the gamellan orchestra accompanies the performance. Solo or Surakarta, whose Prince bears the title of Susuhunan, is one of the most pleasant and shady towns of Java. It is the dweiling place of many of the real old Netherlands-Indian families, descendants of marriages between the i7th century conquerors and the Javanese. Tobacco and sugar are cultivated almost everywhere in East Java. Java tobacco, especially that of Pasuruan and Besuki, the Djember and Lumadjang leaf, has an excellent reputation on the Amsterdam market even though they are not equal to the Deli (Sumatra) tobacco which competes with the Havana and Manilla tobacco's. Coffee is also an important product of the two Eastern Residencies and from Pekalongan and Djapara-Rembang comes "djati" wood, or teak. Rembang is also a district of petroleum enterprises, and the Residency of Surabaja with its capital of the same name, the first commercial town of the Netherlands Indies, owes its importance to sugar trade. At the time of writing of this book (1934), however, the sugar industry of Java is suffering from a most serious slump, which threatens its very existence. Surabaja is far ahead of the. capital, Batavia, in trade and shipping as well as in population. There are the naval wharfs and dockyards, and in both town and residency a number of large industrial enterprises are to be found. Smaller industries carried on with great artistic ability by the natives also flourish there, such as hand carved ivory and metal work, and gold, silver, brass and earthenware products. The old town has considerable charm in Dutch style, but the new quarters of Simpang, Gubeng and Darmo are looked upon as more desirable residences. One of the most beautiful spots in Java is the highest hill-station: Tosari, nearly 6000 feet (1850 metres) up, on a spur of the Tenger Moun- tains. Our way leads first through dark, primeval forests in which grows the purple flowered rasamala, tall as a tower and where there are waterfalls on every side, orchids grow on the tree trunks and also great toadstools. Next we come to the region of the tjemara, the pine tree of the tropics. Finally there is maize and wheat in the fields instead of rice, alpine flowers and woods of maple, chestnut and oak. In the villa gardens bloom roses, carnations, mignonette and heliotrope. It is difficult to decide which affords the most perfect view from these heights: to look out over the whole of East Java with its solitary mountain giants and follow the coastline away and away to the west, or to turn the eyes to the threatening cloud masses hanging above mysterious precipices out of which the highest summits rise like dark cliffs. The Tenger itself is the ruin of an enormous volcano, in the era ter of which is grey sand, the Sandsea, in which new volcanoes have arisen such as the ever smouldering Bromo, the Batok, and in the background, the greatest of all the volcanoes of Java, towering Smeru, 12.130 feet (3676 metres) high. We must limit ourselves to Java and Sumatra, though much might be written of the other Great Sunda Islands. Borneo is still an isle of primeval forest and jungle where the Dajaks are slowly giving up their headhunting practices; cultivation will gradually change all and already the great petroleum harbour of Balikpapan foreshadows future development. Then there is Celebes, with that remarkable district of the Minahassa, where the missionaries have triumphandy made Christians of a race of savages. Lack of space also forbids any account of the Spice Islands, or of extensive Dutch New Guinea, its Papuan inhabitants and birds of paradise. We must, therefore, confine our attention to the nearest of the Lesser Sunda Islands, east of Java: Bah. BALI Mention has already been made of the connection with Bah from Surabaja by K.P.M. boat to Buleleng. Very beautiful is the approach to the islands; blue in the distance are seen the central mountains, spurs of which descend to the very seacoast, whilst between them lie the gentiy sloping rice fields and the dessa's encircled by groves of coco palms. The mountains of the island reach to a height of more than 10.000 feet (3000 metres), the highest being Gunung Agung, the Peak of Bah, in the south and the most majestic and menacing is ever active Batur with its era ter lake of heavenly blue water. The people of Bah are beautiful, artistic and not yet over-westernised. This is how the Dutch author Augusta de Wit describes them — "What a splendid race 1 Tall, slim, straight. The most beautiful are the women. They carry heavy burdens on their heads, so heavy that without help they cannot lift them, and the continual exertion has developed the muscles of neck, breast and back to perfection of beauty. One arm stretched up to the skilfully balanced burden, with the other hand they gracefully hold up a corner of the upper sarong; naked as far as the waist, the upper body draped with a thin "slendang" of purple, orange-yellow, bright green or violet, they pass on their way with swinging, slightly swaying step. It is a delight to see them approach and a delight to follow them. They all have flowers in their hair, mosdy "tjempakas" or red and white oleanders. In spite of the heavy burden on the head they look as though they were going to a festival." Just as in the case of the medieval cathedral builders, religion is the living source of inspiration to creative art of the people of Bali. Not the least village but it has its "pura" or temple. Their religion is mitigated Brahminism in which Buddha has become the younger brother of Siva. Words are inadequate to describe the beauty and wealth of detail of the temples. The gates are of brick and grey volcanic stone, and their sculptured ornamentation is so delicate, that it has been likened to petrified blossoms. A temple consists of three walled spaces and it is often the gate giving entrance to the middle space which is most marvellous. The temple is divided into outer court, meeting place and the sanctum sanctorum, the real dweiling of the Gods with its places of sacrifice and its "merus", towers of pagoda shape, sometimes as much as eleven stories high, symbolic of the mountains on whose summits the people believe the supernatural powers to have their residence. Cremation is closely connected with religion and when the body is that of a wealthy man, it is a costly ceremony, splendid and colourful. The rite may only be performed on an auspicious day. A corpse-tower is built the height of which is in proportion with the éminence of the deceased, and thus it may be as much as 100 feet high. The framework is bamboo and ratten, and all sorts of brightly coloured decorations are attached made of paper, silk and glass; the tower is borne by a "garuda", the winged steed of Vishnu. On the appointed day the body is placed in this tall erection and amidst loud wailing to ward off evil spirits, the tower is carried to the place of burning by bearers, sometimes numbering hundreds. The procession is headed by a large crowd of women dressed in richly coloured robes and bearing on earthen, wooden, silver and gold trays offerings of fruits, flowers and white, red and yellow rice for the gods of the underworld. Men follow, sometimes fantastically disguised as terrible demons, armed with creeses and lances. The body is brought down to the place of cremation and is burned in a chest shaped like a lion or buil, and with it is also burned the tower, after the young people have made a raid on the decorations, fragments of which are said to bring good luck. Once the wives allowed themselves to be burned with their husbands, but to day only puppets are cast to the devouring flames. The whole of Bali can be traversed by motor car and a few places worth a visit may be mentioned. In the north not far from Buleleng, is the capital Singaradja; to the north east of both lies Sangsit with the most beautiful pura of North Bah; Gitgit and Kintamani in the mountains are places of lovely natural scenery. The most important place in the south is Badung (Den Pasar), and to the north east of it lie Bangli, Cock-fighU and bettings on them are the great passion of the Balinese. Girls of Bali pounding rice. A man of Bali with his brilliant creese. Balinese art: a splendidly carved wooden mash. Klungkung, Gelgel with its splendid temple, Karang Asem and many another interesting spot. There are many picturesque national amusements, such as the dancing of "Iegongs", graceful young girls with gold and flowers in their hair. "Wajang wong" is popular here also, the sagas being recited in archaic Javanese. The chief amusement, however, is cock-fighting and the fightingcockis cherished and cared for by his master. The day of the fight arrivés, doublé edged steel spurs are attached to its legs and so it meets its opponent! There is eager and excited betting on the result of the contest. South Bah is a place of historie memories. Here in 1906 the last struggle took place between the Dutch and the Princes of Bali. The latter provoked the struggle by plundering stranded ships. Near Kusambe is the cave where the three Princes of the South discussed the coming battle. Djilantik of Karang Asem cast an egg against a rock saying: "If the egg desires war with the stone, which will lose?" This egg symbolised the threatened Prince of Badung and the rock the Netherlands which would merely be splashed. And so it was. The Prince, deserted by his people and seeing that all was lost, summoned his wives and collected around him his relations and a few faithful followers in his Puri (palace). Rather than submit they decided on "puputan", the end. Each took a creese or lance, in many cases magie weapons, old and sacred; should these weapons fail they vowed to seek death. A summons to surrender was of no avail and true to their promise they feil upon the Dutch troops with fanatic courage and so perished. THE END APPENDIX A FEW WORDS ABOUT AIR NAVIGATION AND AEROPLANE INSTRUMENTS Many people wonder how a pilot manages to reach his destination when flying over deserts, seas or jungles where landmarks are almost completely lacking, or without any visibiüty of the surface of the earth at all when flying in or over clouds or by night. Dead Reckoning and Influence of Wind, The aviator's principal helps for navigation by "dead reckoning" are of course his compass (magnetic or otherwise), his speed indicator and his watch. These three instruments, in conjunction, enable him to estimate the distance he is covering in a given time and in a certain direction. But when looking further into this question, one realises that compass, speed indicator and watch can only give a complete solution of the problem in the exceptional case, when there is no wind at all. For the compass does not always indicate the direction in which the plane actually moves in relation to the ground, but only the direction in which the nose of the plane points. That is to say, when there is a wind, the plane follows a path, composed of two movements: firstly its own, in relation to the air and secondly that of die air, with respect to the ground, and only the direction of the former movement can be read from the compass. Furthermore, the speed indicator shows the speed of the aeroplane compared to the air ("airspeed") so that, again, the influence of the wind on the actual travelling speed with respect to the ground ("groundspeed") does not appear. Let us elucidate this by an example. An aeroplane, having an airspeed (shown on the speed indicator) of 90 miles per hour has to cover a distance of 360 miles. In calm air, when airspeed is equal to groundspeed, this would take 4 hours. A headwind of 30 m.p.h., although not affecting the airspeed, would reduce the groundspeed to 60 m.p.h., so that the flying time would be 6 hours, whereas a following wind of 30 m.p.h., increasing the groundspeed to 120 m.p.h. would shorten the trip to a mere 3 hours. A cross wind of 30 m.p.h. at right angles to the intended course would have the effect shown in the diagram, giving a groundspeed of approximately 85 m.p.h. and resulting in a flying time of just under 4V4 hours. In the last case, the nose of the plane will not point in the direction of the destination, but some 20° windward of the ground track. That is to say, the plane flies in a somewhat crabwise way and the reading of the compass (being the angle between the magnetic North and the longitudinal axis of the plane) does not coïncide with the direction of the ground track. 30 m.p.h. (wind) * ^ ±85 m.p.h. (groundspeed) . position in which the plane 90 m.p.h. (airspeed) travels with respect to the ground-track So we see mat the wind is a factor which only upsets the "dead reckoning" by compass, watch and airspeed indicator. When the surf ace of the earth (land or sea) is visible from the aeroplane it is possible to measure, by means of an instrument called the "drift indicator", the effect of the wind on course and groundspeed. If, however, the püot flies in or over clouds or by night, he has to make the best of the meteorological information, supplied to him before departure (forecasts) or passed on to him during flight by wireless. Direction finding by Wireless. In countries where an up-to-date organisation for wireless communication with aeroplanes is developed, the pilot finds in his "radio" a most 0 important expediënt for navigation. It not only it keeps him informed about the weather conditions en route and the conditions of the landinggrounds but, in addition, it opens the possibility of obtaining "wireless hearings". To this end, either the ground station or the radio-set on board possesses a special device for determining the exact direction from which signals are received. A ground station, equipped with a "Direction Finder", can thus ascertain the line on which an aeroplane is flying, relative to the station in question and, consequendy, the compass hearing from the plane to the station. When two wireless station which are listening in, detect the plane simultaneously it will even be possible to locate its exact position provided the two hearings form an angle, sufficiently wide to obtain a distinct intersection. Flying without Visïbility. Visibility of the surface of the earth or a horizon (which need not necessarily be a horizon of land or sea but may also be a horizon of clouds), will be sufficiënt for the pilot to keep his plane in a correct position. When no ground or horizon is to be seen, an instrument is indispensable to replace them. There are various kinds of instruments, called "turn indicators", "artificial horizons", and so on, but they are all based on the principle of the gyroscope. Attitude of Flight. The altitude of flight is chosen by the pilot entirely according to atmospheric conditions. Generally speaking, wind is stronger high up than at ground level, so flying against a headwind will be done as a rule at low altitude, whereas the pilot will profit by a following wind by flying at many thousands of feet. But then there is also the question of clouds, layers of bumpy air, dust storms, temperature and so on, so thatnogeneral rule can be given as to the altitude of flight. Attitudes are measured by the atmospheric pressure of the surrounding air, so the al timeter is essentially a barometer. It should not be overlooked that this instrument indicates attitudes over sea level: when flying at 500 feet over a country 1500 feet high, the altimeter will indicate 2000 feet. Moreover, the reading of the instrument should be corrected for deviations of Standard atmospherical pressure (high or low barometer). Balinese girl bringing offerings to her gods FLYING DISTANCES . „ , tt ,, ,t • • Kilometres Miles Amsterdam—Halle/Leipsic -2e Halle/Leipsic—Budapest |,f *~i Budapest-Athcns "** <™ Amsterdam—Marseilles 0q. a Marseüles—Rome "£ Rome-Athens „*! |?° "35 695 Athens—Mersa Matruh e „ __$, Mersa Matruh—Cairo WWW" 42o 261 Cairo—Gaza " " T. o Gaza—Rutbah Wells „° ," Rutbah Wells—Baghdad .'.WW.',80 lil Baghdad—Bushire ijZ Bushire-Djask £f J" Djask-iouiehi ::::::;:;;;:;;;;;;;;;;;; • g fj Karachi-Jodhpur f.3. Jodphur—AUahabad 8-1 Allahabad—Calcutta ZiZ f£ Calcutta-Akyab WW WW! 2g «o Akyab-Rangoon Rangoon—Bangkok -g. ,5,. Bangkok-Alor Star ^ Alor Star-Medan ?!! "9 Medan-Singapore ^ *g Singapore—Palembang .g, , , Palembang—Batavia " TT' Batavia—Bandoeng '^06 66 Amsterdam—Batavia (via Budapest) 14.316 8 833 Amsterdam—Batavia (via Rome) 14.651 9.098 COMPARATIVE TIMES In order to obtain local Standard time add the times given below to G.M.T. h.m. London 0 00 Amsterdam (wintertime) °-2° Amsterdam (summertime) I'zo Marseilles Rome 100 Leipsic 100 Budapest 100 Belgrade 100 Sophia 200 Athens 2-°° Merza Matruh a'°° Cairo a o° Gaza 2-°° RutbahWeÜs.'. 3-oo Baghdad 3-oo Bushire 3-*> Lingeh 3-4° Djask 3-50 Karachi S'3° Jodhpur "'3° Allahabad 5-3» Calcutta S'53 Akyab J.30 Rangoon 3° Bangkok 7-oo Alor Star 7-«> Singapore Medan «»-30 Pakan Baroe °-3° Palembang 7-0° Batavia 7-3° Bandoeng »'3° WHAT PASSENGERS SAY ABOUT K.L.M. Mn. Maurjce Hewlett, first woman to fly from London to Batavia. The K.L.M. is the best organised civil air-route possible today. I congratulate the company, I enjoyed every minute of the days. C. Pecker, Editor Straits Times, Singapore. There is no better way of travelling than by air. The superb efficiency and dependability of the regular eastern service of the K.L.M., is a matter which continues to arouse the admiration of the business countries which the line serves. Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet and Philosopher. Our aeroplane journey from Calcutta to Persia and back has been absolutely successful and the Dutch air service has won my complete admiration. I have had a very comfortable journey and I am thankful to the Company for the care they have taken of us. At my age such tremendous distances can only be covered without fatigue by K.L.M. Fred. Bruce, Government of Serawak. I thoroughly enjoyed the voyage and have not hesitated to mention the fact to those who have enquired from me. WlLL Rogers, popular American author and actor. One of the f inest trips I ever had in my life, or anybody could ever have. I was ten days with your four boys, pilot, co-pilot, radio-man.andmechanic. I not only had the utmost confidence in their ability, but was personally very fond of them and really sorry when the trip was over. It was a fine crew, the pilot was as competent and careful a man as I ever flew with. It's the trip of a lifetime. Best regards to that bunch and to the company. K. W. J. Michielsen, Manager Java Bank and A. Bakker, Royal Packet Navigation Company, Sydney. Every respect extremely satisfied tribute to splendid organisation firstrate personnel. (Telegram) Erwin Berghaus, Editor of the „Kölnische Illustrierte Zeitung", Cologne. It was an indescribable experience and I notice, that only little by litde I begin to realise what it all was like. W. Watt R.N., Directer Karachi Airport. Nothing other than the exceptional skill of your Pilots and Crew, as well as the excellent facilities offered throughout the route, could call for particular comment. J. W. Campbell, The Angus Company Ltd. Calcutta. so that the trip Calcutta to New York took only 13 days. W. W. K. Paos, Calcutta, in Review of India, September 193a. Calcutta to Croydon in six days. Impossible to resist the temptation. There is absolutely nothing which is too much trouble, so long as it will make for the comfort of the passenger. This is cold solid fact, without any exaggeration. Charles M. Morell, Secr. of the British Chamber of Commerce for the Netherlands East Indies. In short, the trip was one of the finest experiences I ever had and I ara more convinced than ever of the great future which awaits the K.L.M. and commercial aviation generally. J. H. Doolittle, American Test Pilot. In general I should say that the East Indian run of the Royal Dutch Air Lines is a most excellent one. The equipment and the maintenance are good; the flying personnel are all excellent. The navigation of the K.L.M.pilots was extraordinary good. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. It was my good fortune to be a passenger on the good ship „Pelican" from Batavia to Amsterdam and the safety and security with which the K.L.M. opera te this, the longest commercial air mail route in the world, made the flight for me one of intense pleasure and also admiration for the operators of this highly successful company. N. S. van Schreven, Chargé d'Affaires of the Netherlands, Bangkok. Flying with the Dutch aeroplanes, especially in the tropics, is indeed the ideal way of travelling. Moreover, it has enabled me to attend meetings for which the opportunity would have been lacking otherwise. George Edgar Bonnet, Vice-President de la Compagnie Air France. I have effectuated on board one of your planes a most perfect trip from Cairo to Marseilles, which has confirmed all of what I knew already about the excellence of your service. N. J. Sweeney, Directer British American Tobacco Cy, Samarang. I would say that I was very much impressed with the personnel, the crew did everything for the comfort of the passengers. Mourad Kamel Bey, Chargé d'Affaires of Egypt, The Hague. I must congratulate you for having such excellent crews as well as on your safe and comfortable machines. Your Company is a great honour to your country. I wish you a permanent and always increasing success. Sir Cecil Clementi, Governor of the Straits Setdements. It was a delightful experience and has much impressed us with the efficiency and comfort of the Amsterdam-Batavia air line. I shall at all time be happy to do whatever lies in my power to assist your services in Malaya. Mrs. H. van Woerkom-Van Viersen. I feel obliged to teil you how comfortable and pleasant a journey I made by your plane „Quail" from Amsterdam to Rangoon and how well the crew took care of their passengers. Being a woman I rather dreaded the long journey by plane but I must say, that besides die long stretch Baghdad-Jodhpur, the journey was not in the least tiring. Lord Moyne and Lady Broughton, famous big game hunters. We have made a perfect journey to Rangoon in PH-AIQ with absolute punctuality and at high speed. Nothing could have exceeded the consideratie» of Captain Smirnoff and his crew and the perfection of their arrangements to make our flight interesting and comfortable. I would especially commend the seating arrangements of the aeroplane which have prevented any feeling of fatigue during the seven days we have spent on board. Commander W. L. Grot, Manager of the Siam Electric Cooperation, Copenhagen. „W.ith regard to the trip home in the Ijsvogel I have only praise for the efficiency of your organisation and for the excellent hearing of the crew. Luang Dhamrong Mavasvasti, Paruskavan Palace, Bangkok. I may take this opportunity to express my great pleasure in having an opportunity to travel back to my home in your company's wonderful plane. After my first travel by air, I am more sure of my own opinion that air travelling is very safe and very convenient as well as the cheapest mean of travelling. From the office of the Comptroller, H. E. the Commander-in-Chief s Household, New Delhi: I am writing at Lady Chetwode's request to inform you that she arrived safely at Jodhpur yesterday from Marseilles. Lady Chetwode wishes me to express her gratitude for all the arrangements made by your company both for her homeward and outward flighta. Everywhere she met the greatest courtesy and attention, and her whole journey was made most comfortable. The finest proof of ihe reliability of Shell Oil is provided by the tact that K.L.M. use AeroShell Heavy Oil exclusively for their aircraft on the Amsterdam-Batavia route of 9000 miles. Why not ask your garage or dealer for the correct grade of Shell Oil for your car? K. L M" ROYAL DUTCH AIR LINES ROUTEMAP: AMSTERDAM - BATAVIA SCALE 1 : 5.000.000 O 25 50 75 100 I 1 i 1 L_ 20Q 30O K.M. K • L • M AMSTERDAM — BATAVIA a 14.000 KILOMETRE (8800 MILE) AIR WAY. The regularity, increased speed and splendid comfort of this line is based upon-. K.L.M. ORGANIZ ATION FOKKER DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT SHELL PRODUCTS AND SHELL SERVICE INAUGURATION OF THE K.L.M. The first machine with which the K.L.M. started their London/Amsterdam service was a rebuilt military D. H. 9 chartered from Aircraft Transport &. Travel, Ltd. The slow speed and absence of comfort of this machine are a marked contrast with the up-to-date aircraft now in service. From the very start K.L.M. relied on SHELL PRODUCTS AND SHELL SERVICE. The f inest proof of the reliability of Shell Oil is provided by the fact that K.L.M. use AeroShell Heavy Oil exclusively for their aircraft on the Amsterdam-Batavia route of 9000 miles. Why not ask your garage or dealer for the correct grade of Shell Oil for your car? „K. L. M" ROYAL DUTCH AIR LINES ROUTEMAP: AMSTERDAM - BATAVIA AMSTERDAM - HALLE/LEIPSIC (summer route) PIONEER FLIGHT TO THE NETHERLANDS INDIES 1924 The single engined Fokker machine shown on the opposite page is one of the most famous machines in the history of Netherlands aviation, for it laid the foundation stone of the 14.000 kilometre (8800 mile) air-bridge connecting Holland with her colonies in the Far East. - The perseverance and skill of the crew, the reliability of the Fokker machine and Shell Service made this pioneer flight a success. SHELL SERVICE IN BYGONE DAYS Many years ago, when aviation was still in its infancy, the provision of the necessary supplies of gasoline and lubricating oil at the various aerodromes presented enormous difficulties, which the Shell Company's long experience enabled them to overcome. - At the time deliveries were made from tins, every means of transport being pressed into service: sea, rail, road.camel or native porter. - How slowly the process of filliag was carried out is shown by the photographs on the previous page. THE LAST WORD IN SHELL AVIATION SERVICE The petrol tins of the early days are things of the past. The laboriously slow process of filling from tins has been replaced either by underground refuelling pits or by modern service trucks which have a filling capacity of between 200 and 400 litres (44 and 89 gallons) a minute. The photograph shows one of the K.L.M.'s Fokker/Douglas machines being refuelled at Schiphol aerodrome. A WORLD-WIDE AVIATION SERVICE Not only at Schiphol and other major aerodromes has the Shell Company provided speedy refuelling facilities. - Even in the distant corners of the world such service is available, as is shown by the photograph on the previous page taken at Baghdad. EVERY MACHINE YOU MEET ALONG THIS ROUTE IS SERVICED BY SHELL. - THIS DEMONSTRATES SHELL'S CONNEXION WITH AVIATION Be it one of the giant aircraft owned by Imperial Airways Ltd. or one of the machines of Air France, remember that every one of them is also being serviced by the Shell Company. Shell service is not confined to aviation. —The needs of motorists in every country are fully catered for. - Shell gasoline and the various grades of Shell motor oil are available everywhere, and the Shell offices in the different countries are always ready to give advice to tourists. ANOTHER KIND OF SHELL AVIATION SERVICE The benefits of Shell Aviation Service are not confined to the K.L.M. and other large operating companies. - Every main Shell office possesses up-to-date information on general aviation matters and valuable data regarding aerodromes and air routes, all of which can be obtained on demand. - A fleet of Shell-owned aircraft is employed not only for the inspection of the ground organization at the various landing grounds along this and other inter-continental routes, but also as an auxiliary to this aviation service. - Aerial photographs taken by the Shell pilots are used to obtain good plans of aerodromes and seaplane stations, for the preparation of air route guides, and for the compilation of the data from which the Shell Aviation Departments give advice to all pilots. - These services are at the disposal of aviators, and are an important feature in the ubiquitous organization maintained by the Shell Company for the furtherance of civil aviation. — 5 SHELL AVIATION GASOLINE AEROSHELL LUBRICATING OIL AND SHELL SERVICE are available at all the major and most of the minor aerodromes throughout the world. - The quality of Shell products delivered from refineries all over the world and the service offered by Shell are second to none and Shell is playing a considerable part in the development of-civil aviation. THE FAMOUS RANGE OF SHELL OILS single shell doublé shell triple shell golden shell aEROSHELl K.L.M./SHELL The finest proof of the reliability of Shell oil is provided by the fact that the K. L. M. use AeroShell Heavy oil exclusively for their aircraft on the Amsterdam - Batavia route of 14.000 kilometres. - Why not ask your garage or dealer for the correct grade of Shell oil for your car? SHELL AVIATION SERVICE ALL OVER THE WORLD The tremendous importance Holland has always attached to the control and exploitation of water and waterways is well exemplified by the name of one of the principle Dutch Ministerial departments — the "Ministerie van Waterstaat" — or Ministry of the Water State. This Ministry, at first no doubt concerned with reclamation of land, control of waterways and defence against inundations, now not only controls such marters, (including of course, huge schemes such as the reclamation of the Zuider Zee), but has also the control of all roads, public transport and bridges, as well as geological survey and mining. Recently this Ministry of the Waters has also taken under its control the traffic of the air and the Dutch Civil Aviation Office is a department of the Ministerie van Waterstaat. Howevercontinuingour historical re view: politically the year 1433 was important, for in that year Duke Philip of Burgundy became Count of Holland, partly by inheritance and partly by force. Nearly all the provinces which go to make modern Belgium also acknowledged his sovereignty. Philip dreamed of a united state which should stretch from the Alpsto the North Sea, but this dream of the Burgundian Dynasty was shattered at Nancy in 1477, where his successor, Charles the Bold, feil fighting against Lorraine. After his death his youthful heir, Maria, only 17 years of age, was forced to restore to the States the privileges torn from them by her ruthless parent and grandparent. Fuel was already gathering to feed the fierce flame of opposition to alien rule which was to flare up amongst the Dutch people in the following century, when religion was to be the torch to set all in a blaze. The reign of Charles V was a time of material prosperity and also of spiritual awakening. The s tri ving of the Dutch Humanists for reform within the Catholic Church was to find its fullest expression through the renowned Erasmus of Rotterdam. Militant Calvinism, however, which reached Holland from France about 1545, was to give the greatest impulse of all to religious reform. 1° 1555 Emperor Charles abdicated in favour of his son Philip II who spoke only Spanish and under whom the yoke of foreign domination became too grievous to be borne. In 1559 he went to Spain leaving his half-sister, Margaret, as Regent. Then rebellion awakened, first in the ranks of the higher nobility led by the Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland, and secondly under the leadership of his brother, Lewis of Nassau, amongst the lesser nobility. The King sent an army from Spain under the terrible Alva whom he charged to spare nobody. Hundreds of nobles and citizens left the country at his approach. Amongst the exiles was the Prince of Orange. Helped by his brother, Lewis of Nassau, he managed to recruit an army. Lewis invaded the north and was victorious near Heiligerlee. This action may be regarded as commencing the 80 Year War. Next, the Dutch port of Briel was captured by the patriots and the Prince'sent emissaries into Holland. One by one the towns rallied to his banner, Amsterdam alone remaining on the Spanish side. The prince of Orange came into the country, establishing himself at Delft. It was a heroic struggle. Water, the old enemy as well as the old aDy of the Dutch, was brought into the field. When Leiden was hotly besieged, the dykes were pierced and Spanish courage cooled when the soldiers found themselves encircled by angry waters. Bread and herrings were brought to the starving townspeople by the Prince's soldiers in flatbottomed boats. Should you ever be in Leiden on October 3rd, you may aee bread and herrings distributed in commemoration of this incident of long ago. In 1576 all the seventeen pro vinces signed the Pacification of Ghent, and the Prince of Orange was universally acclaimed as liberator, the Father of the Fatherland. Religion, however, was the rock upon which Dutch unity was to suffer shipwreck. The southern Protestants desired the same rights as those of the north, but the Catholic majority in the South, resenting the demands of the protestant minority in their midst, came once more under the dominance of Spain, whilst the Northerners bound themselves more closely together by means of the Union of Utrecht. The Prince of Orange, struck down by an assassin in 1584, gasped with his dying breath: "My God, have mercy on me and on thispoorpeople." The Spanish people rejoiced, but prematurely. Maurice, the young son of Prince Wüliam, was to prove himself one of the ablest generals of his day. Slowly he drove the Spaniards out of the territory north of the great rivers and reconquered parts of Flanders and Brabant. By now the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was so firmly established that even Spain was forced to recognise it officially. In 1609 the Twelve Year Armistice was concluded. In 1648 after the Peace of Munster, the Independent Dutch Republic came to the zenith of its power. Amsterdam was the finest city in the world — literary works of unsurpassed excellence were produced, and Dutch artists painted pictures of immortal beauty. Cattle and dairy produce — the Frisian cattle, the Dutch cheese — began to win their great reputation and considerable areas of land were reclaimed from the sea in the north and became ferme pasture. But alas! war broke out with England, the great trade rival at sea. The fleet proved to have been neglected, but Tromp with de Ruyter and van Galen did their utmost, dealing the enemy some shrewd blows. John de Witt, the Grand Pensionary, managed to patch up a peace, but it was intensely unpopular, for one condition was theexclusionof the House of Orange from the office of Stadtholder. Again in 1664 war broke out with England, and this time de Ruyter — the man who rose from cabin boy to Admiral — was so far master of the seas that he sailed up the Thames to Chatham and the sound of his cannon was heard in London. Samuel Pepys, English diarist of those times and afterwards Secretary to the British Admiralty, says on mis subject: „111 news is come to Court of the Dutch breaking the Chaine at Chatham, which struck me to the very heart." And again: "Home, where all our hearts do now ake, for the news is true and the Dutch have broke the Chaine and burned our ahips and particularly the Royal Charles." After this, however, came more trouble, for Louis XIV of France, "Le Roi Soleil," made efforts to add the southern (Spanish) provincea to his dominions. The skilful diplomacy of John de Witt thwarted him temporarily, but in 167a France, England and the Bishoprics of Munster and Cologne all declared war upon the Republic. The House of Orange was recalled in the persan of Willem III. Then again came better times, William III was called to England in 1688 by the Protestants to replace James II. Thus a Dutchman, a member of the House of Orange, became King of England. When he died in 170a there was no son to succeed and it was not until the country was menaced by a new war in 1747, that the Netherlands recalled the House of Orange in the peraon of the Stadtholder of Friesland, William IV. He was not a man of atrong character and when he died in 1751 his son, William V, was but three years old. More and more sharply were the people divided into two camps: adberen ts to the Prince and "patriots". The end of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands came in 1795 — Patriots who had fled, returned with the armies of revolutionary France and the Prince left the country. The Batavian Republic was established and during its short existence did at least one good thing. A constitution was founded embodying the idea of one United State of the Netherlands. Subjection to France, the all conquering France of Napoleon, became greater. At one period a brother of Napoleon was thrust upon the Dutch as monarch and it was not until 1813, after the battle of Leipzig, that foreign rule came to an end. In that year William Frederik, son of William V, was welcomed in the Netherlands with joy, not as Stadtholder but as sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. In 1815 the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium) were added to the Northern and William became king. As he was the first member of the House of Orange to become king of the Netherlands, he is mentioned in history as William I (not to be confounded with Prince William I, "the Silent".) He could not however, win the lasting affection of die southern pro vinces, and in 1830 rebellion broke out. His two sons, William and Frederick marched south and defeated the Belgians three times in ten days. Then France intervened and the position became hopeless. In 1839 King William I abdicated and his son William II came to the throne. He was amiable, knightly and a lover of splendour but he had no sympathy with the democratie age he lived in, and did not under»tand it. In 1848 another revolutionary wave passed over Europe, and a general revision of the constitution was thrust upon him, which confirmed the system of Parliamentary Government in the Netherlands. Shortly afterwards he died suddenly. The simple folk could not believe in his death and like some King Arthur or Barbarossa, he was believed to have become mysteriously immortal, a legend in keeping with his own romantic conception of Kingship. His son, William III, swore allegiance to the new constitution and asked Thorbecke, leader in the revision of the constitution, to form a cabinet. Repeatedly and reluctantly the King had to appeal to the brilliant liberal leader Thorbecke, whom he regarded as a revolutionary and it was due to, the latter that the Parliamentary system did not remain a dead letter in the Netherlands. After him Princess Wilhelmina, daughter of his second marriage to Princess Emma of Waldeck Pyrmont came to the throne. As she was only ten years old at her father's death, her Mother acted as Regent and admirably did she perform this duty, bringing up the youthful princess to face her high destiny with skill and courage. Very clearly did the people of the Netherlands demonstrate their affection for the young Queen when in 1902, she married Prince Henry of Mecklenburg, and universal were the rejoicings in 1909, when a successor to the throne was born, Princess Juliana. During the present Queen's reign, especially at the commencement, there have been many outstanding social reforms. Besides the great Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1909 were held at The Hague. The former Conference was closely followed by the Boer War, during which, not unnaturaüy, the sympathies of the Netherlands were with the Boers, a people of Dutch race whose subjection was regarded in Holland as a national loss. The Queen sent a Dutch man-of-war to bring President Kruger to Holland. The year 1913 was one of festivities, commemoratihg in peace, joy and prosperity a century of independence. The following year was one of war and disaster in which every Dutchman, setting aside political and religious differences, rallied round the throne and government. After the war problems increasingly urgent and difficult beset Holland, as they beset all nations. One remarkable feature of this period will be recorded by future historians as of incalculable importance, the foundation in a small way at first, of commercial aviation in Holland, and its JtcJ>&< growth, despite World depression, into a great and valuable means of transport and a national asset. The year 1934 was one of deep mourning in Holland, for the country lost two members of the Royal Family. On the 19Ü» of March, the Queen Mother passed away at the age of 76, deeply regretted by the whole nation. In 1898, after the fulfilment of her noble task of Regent, Queen Emma had retired from public life and devoted herself to charity. The Nation still mourned for her when, on the 3rd of July, H.R.H. the Prince Consort died suddenly. He was popular on account of the simplicity of his life and beloved for bis kindness of heart. As Chairman of the Netherlands Red Cross and ui other official positions, he did fine work and deserved well of the Dutch people. Let us, however end our first chapter on a note of optimism. The Netherlands' place in the sun is assured and the throne is occupied by a member of the House of Orange, always the hope of the Nation in times of difficulty. The Biesbosch, a maze of meadow-land and waterways. The castle of Muiden. The centre of Queen Wilhelmina's residence, the Hague. Zandvoort, a watering place on the North Sea coast. Rotterdam. stretches of yellow sand. Brabant borders upon Limburg, where near Maastricht, the Maas enters the Netherlands. This is a flourishing coalmining and induatrial district. North Brabant has textile factoriea: Tilburg once a moorland village, now has large factories of woollen goods. In Helmond cottons are weaved, and linens in Boxtel and Eindhoven. Eindhoven is the ville lumière" of Holland, thanks to an electric lamp industry ot great and ever growing extent. These two provinces, so long ruled by Spain, have a population almost entuely Roman Catholic, while in the other provinces Protestantism predommates. Ix>oking eastwards we see the Rhine flowing majesticaUy into the country. Soon after it has passed the frontier the Waal, broadest of Netherlands nvers, branches from it. The country between Waal and Rhine is one enormous orchard, white with blossom in the season. From the name of this Dutch Avalon" the old Batavians took their name. It is called Betuwe the Good Country. Different again is the country bounded by the right tributary of the Khme, the Ysel, which flows along the "Veluwe", a barren land of hills and heather in the midst of which the industrious Dutch farmer has caused rye fields and meadows to flourish. The Ysel flows into the Zuider Zee, the middle of which is to remain as a lake, the Ysel Meer, when the rest will be transformed into four verdant polders, covering a surface of 77a square miles. Besides Guelderland, which comprises the Betuwe and the Veluwe, the provinces of O verijsel and Friesland border upon the Zuider Zee. Adjoining Friesland is the province of Groningen, an agricultural district. Drente is a region of heathland steadily reclaimed. The east of Overijsel (Twente) and of Guelderland is a region of textile manufacturies, of which Enschede is the centre. After this hurried survey of Wings Across Continents 2 the Netherlands, we will f ly straight to Schiphol, the Airport of Amsterdam. Aviation is making a steady progress and one of the primary causes of this is probably its essentially international character. Air traffic, carried on high above frontiers, behind which each nation crouches obstinately breathing its poison like some fabulous dragon, is less fettered than any other form of transport. In aviation you may see the brotherhood of nations put into practice. At Schiphol aeroplanes of almost all the nations of Europe continually take off and land, and when speaking to Dutch, French, German or Scandinavian pilots, you will find a wonderful unity and concord amongst them. The most important connection, which most vividly presents to the mind the romance of flying, is the Amsterdam—Batavia 9000 mile air link, operated by the Royal Dutch Air Lines K.L.M. Though our main object is to give you a short description of this wonderful air route, it seems fitting that we should devote our nezt chapter to the city from which you will commence your flight to the east: Amsterdam III AMSTERDAM z^S^i^rssr^i is ""F- ».broad *™ °f *• and dwelt on the rïvTrbanïundeV th, ♦ ^ ""^ ages of the Lords of Arnstelknd^^V™?*?0* °f **? 8tro«ghold s^ple fishermen ^d ?^ ^ • few The day of wil • Sth centurv »* was a walled city. rer^lhorayLtfpIm thenOSPenty ' when Wned the tide of tran^TórthwïS C?Taet,x dedmed » «e south and the trade with theTd^andTro^ ^ «° and fortunes were made b» m.,w Company was founded costly in those mnesD J+ Jnar^et,n?l ?w/em so rare and ,? with its conTSrftf11, harmonieus city we behold to-day, ages. The cityÏy !„ old town °f «iddlé spacious wast^l^t^\S^SlSS^ 5* '° di^were8^ L^how* °f « "-^^S^dmodern outskTrts ^pac ous TS' h3?10ny been "^«d and the testify to U^rTviXf0»^^^^ desi^d b^SSTE^Y^Slf0^ 8 8tatCly buildiDg' dates *°m Ig85 and the dunes. On the opposite 1 V r^8 of a ^ dug through harbours. °PP°site side of the Y hes a complex of quays and andtrrrof^ Church on the ftKendrfkkadT^ÏTr F* CUP°k °f St' Nicholas' Adriaanszoon de Ruyter livedl At ^T ^ ?n~ Adinu^ Michiel D^JMlKïLTp ? Ae B°UrSe' and next we «-* *• merchants. It was begun in 1648 by Jacob van Campen in the classic atyle of his time, and is designed to impress rather than to please the eye. The front shows a symbolic figure of Amsterdam, to whom the Gods of the sea pay homage, and at the back of the building other carvings show Amsterdam, Goddess of commerce, to whom Continents offer their choicest produce. The edifice is crowned with a tower containing a peal of bells by Hemony. The interior is in classic style and the lofty Burghers' Hall is imprcssive with its groups of marble statuary, again symbolic of the greatness of the city the old burghers had good reason to be proud of. To the right of the Palace rises the New Church, beautiful in its symmetrical lines and late Gothic style. There is much beauty within the Church: the pulpit with its wealth of in tri ca te wood carving, the chancel screen and the stained-glass windows both ancient and modern. The greatest poet of the Netherlands, Joost van den Vondel, and her greatest Admiral, the Terror of the Great Seas, de Ruyter, are buried here. Next let us glance at Amsterdam's gayest, busiest Street, the Kalverstraat with its cafés, shops and hotels amidst ancient gabled buildings. A side street leads to the Begijnhof which, despite much modernization, has retained its ancient dignity and peace. At the end of the Kalverstraat is the Muntplein, or Mint Square where the tiny Munt Tower overlooks the bustle of the streets and waterways. It is actually one of the gate towers of the old walled city, upon which Hendrick de Keyser, Town Carpenter, (for such was the simple title of one of the cleverest architects of Holland's Golden Age) built agracefulspire in 1620. Continuing our stroll we next come to the Rembrandtplein with the statue of Rembrandt in its centre, and here theatre-landbegins. Singel and Rokin are two streets of the i7th century town, but they are as busy to-day as three centuries ago — only the business men of to-day move perhaps with less stately tread than their be-ruffled and velvet-clad ancestors. Here are houses with „crow step" gables, houses of Dutch renaissance style, both with gay, distinctively Dutch particoloured shutters. Are there two gable tops with quite the same fantastic design in the noble city ? Probably not, for pride of workmanship glowed like a flame in those days, and mass production was as yet unheard of. Broad-headed fishes, rampant lions, rearing horses and fabulous heraldic monsters, rich festoons of strange fruit and flowers adorn these gables. They are part of a time of leisure for craftsmanship, of joviality — a period when love of life and freedom from care caused men to pause and take delight in the fantastic and elegant, even though it was superfluous. Not all the houses were like this. Some, belonging to an age of severer taste, which abolished the classical pilaster and contented itself with a simple decoration of door and gable, are yet pleasing to the eye. An excellent example of this simpler style may be seen near the Amstel: the wide, stately front of the Municipal Almshouses. Next we come to the old aristocratie quarter: Heerengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht. Rows of tall elms border the canals, here and 9io. 11. 12. i3> H' IS' i6 i7' 19 20 23' 24' 25 26. 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 AMSTERDAM Dam Square Royal Palace (former Town Hall) "New Church" (with tomb of De Ruyter) "West Church" The Netherlands Bank University and "Oudemanhuispoort" "Trippenhuis" (i7th. Century Mansion) Stock Exchange Merchants' Bourse "Rijksmuseum" (National Museum) Municipal Museum City Museum (former town gate and Weigh-House) Colonial Institute and -Museum Municipal Theatre Concert Hall Central Railway Station Weesperpoort Railway Station Muiderpoort Railway Station K.L.M. Booking Office R.A.I. Exhibition Hall Carlton Hotel Stadium Vondelpark Sarphatipark Oosterpark Zoological Garden The "Y" Commercial Docks Naval Yard Ferry Orange Docks Fokker Works Schreierstoren River Amstel '' Rembrandt-House" "Begijnhof" (Beguinage) Central Post Office there spanned by an arched bridge. On both sides stand stately mansions, built for the wealthy burghers by archi tects such as de Ke yser, van Campen and- Vingboons. Here stands the lofty tower of the Westerkerk, crowned with the crown which emperor Maximilian of Austria added to the city's coat of arms in 1488. The Westerkerk, built in 1631, has the tallest tower in the city. Though your stay in Amsterdam may be but short, the Rijksmuseum should claim a portion of your time, so that you will carry away a mental vision of the glorious works of art belonging to the i7th century school of Dutch painting. On the first floor is the picture gallery where you will seeRembrandt's"Night Watch", "The Anatomy Lesson" and. beside manv other Old Master, Jan Steen's jovial paintings of simple country folk, who made merry in taverns and at country fairs. The works of the Flemish and Spanish schools are too good to be missed, though lack of space forbids more than a passing mention of them here. Music lovers should know of the Concertgebouw, where the concerts conducted by Willem Mengelberg take place. Back once more on the Damrak we stand before the "Merchants' bxchange . Much business is done there in colonial products: Peruvian bark rubber, coffee, tea, cocoa and the like. Behind this building is the stock Exchange, one of the most important in Europe. Let usnow visit the very heart of Old Amsterdam. Through the narrow Oudekerksteeg we reach the Oude Kerk ("Old Church") with the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre built against its walls. This fine building is said to have been consecrated in 1306 and rebuilt and enlarged in 1550. The intenor is, indeed, dignified and beautiful, with its ancient tombstones and its stained-glass windows. On the Kloveniersburgwal is the Municipal University, the entrance of which is dirough the ancient Almshouse gateway. Out of the "Athenaeum lllustre foundedin 1632, the University has grown. Close co-operation with the Colomal Institute, which is concerned with all branches of colonial knowledge, from trade to ethnography and tropical medicine, has led to several chairs at the University being founded by the Institute. Museums and laboratories offer a wealth of material for colonial study, and to those interested in such marters the very important museum in the Lmnaeusstraat is well worth a visit. Looking down the Kloveniersburgwal "the street of the Arquebussiers" we notice the massive weigh house of St. Anthony, once a city gatehouse then a weigh house and now a historical museum. To the east of the Old Town lies the former Ghetto, which has to a large extent remained true to its old character and is now chiefly inhabited by the highly skilied diamond workers, most of whom are of Jewish blood and taith. The quarter has always possessed a charm for artists, and here in the Jodenbreestraat Rembrandt — although not a Jew — spent the nappiest years of his life with Saskia van Uylenburgh, in a house full of gladness and lovely things. The house is now a museum, the rooms much as they were in the great artist's day, with etchings, rough sketches and smail but exquisite pictures by the Master's hand, upon the walls. Thus is memory kept fragrant like some precious thing laid by in lavender, and the dreamer who pauses a moment in these old rooms, may snatch golden moments from the centuries that have gone. Amsterdam is a source of never failing interest to the dreamer, but in its bustle and modernity too it has a very strong attraction for those, to whom this year of grace is the only period of importance. Thus you may go forth, whoever you be, and discover Amsterdam further for yourself. Modern Dutch architecture: the tounhall of Hilversum. The castle of Haarzuilen. The 5000 feet long bridge over the „Hollandsch Diep" near the village Moerdijk. Along the summer-route to India: Budapest. the vast Hungarian Plain. Through the "pustaa" flows the Danube, rolling ever southwarda. Herds of horses gallop across the plains, where thousands of sheep as well as innumerable long-horned cattle are grazing. The shepherds and cattlemen live the same pastoral life to-day that their forefathers lived centuries ago. Near Subotica the air-route crosses the northern frontier of Yugoslavia and follows the Danube to Zemun, the airport of Belgrade. YUGOSLAVIA The capital of Yugoslavia is a strange mixture of the ancient and the modern. Side bv side with ferrn- concrete buildings, aspiring to the size and dignity of skyscrapers crouch öny whitewashed cottages with little gardens, gay with southern blooms and almond blossom. The history of Belgrade is mainly müitary. Onginally it was the Roman fort of Singidunum. Until 1806, when bervia became independent, Belgrade was little more than a citadel contested for centuries by Turks, Austrians and Serbs. The great war commenced with the bombardment of Belgrade and where shell fire levelled forts with the ground, there are now gardens. From the terraces ot the fortress-rock Kalimegdan, one has a wonderful view across the plain of Banat. AU of the flight across the Balkans affords the traveUer views of wild mountain beauty. Though shortly after leaving Belgrade we see scattered red-tiled farmsteads and queer coneshaped hayricks, our main impression wul surely be one of savage mountain grandeur, black or redbrown masses of rock, woods clinging to mountain sides, cascades and waterfalls, and near the Kojuk Planina Pass the mountains on either side are higher than the aeroplane. A fairly large town we pass is SkopUe (once Uskub) on the Vardar. This nver flows into the Gulf of Salonica. GREECE To the South of Salonica on our route looms the stately Olympus, home of the Gods. May be they are at their banqueting, Apollo supplying the music — Loud-thundering Zeus, shake not thy locks causing the mountains to tremble as we pass! Shut in benveen Olympus and Ossa Ues the sequestered Vale of Tempé through1 which the wild mountain stream Peneios flows towards thé ZL- j falonica through cypress woods, olive-trees and sycamores, entwmed by virgmia creepers: fit playground this for Great God Pan. A little further to the south of Ossa Ues PeUon. West of the air route Ues Thessaly, land of the Centaurs, who, half man half horse, typifying the primitive inhabitants, were driven to the mountain wilds by the Lapithae, said to represent the Hellenic conquerors of Greece. This was a well-known theme of classic sculpture. The harbour of Volo, the colourful rock isle of Euboea and the little towns of Xerochori and Linne, in their landscape of white, red and brown rocks overgrown with firs and oaks, lie in our path. We come to Athens amidst gentle mountain slopes. High above the city rise two great rocks, the Lycabettus and the famed Acropolis. ATHENS Legend relates how Erechtheus, first King of Attica, built his citadel here and two of those Greek deities, who so quaintly mingled with human affairs, sought the favour of the Cityby offering gifts.They werePoseidonof theSeasand Athene, Goddess of Wisdom. Poseidon gave the horse, but Athene brought the olive tree, which the King decided was of greater value to mankind, so Athene became patron Goddess of the city. Xerxes destroyed the sacred objects of the rock fortress in 480 B.C. and burned the sacred olive tree, but from its roots sprang forth a new, green shoot. Auspicious omen! for the Persian monarch was defeated and Athens became the fairest city of the world then knowntomen. The flat-topped mountain was crowned in 439 B.C. by that marvel of beauty, the Parthenon, raised by the might of Pericles and the genius of Phidias, constructed with the marble of Mount Pentelicus. Simplicity and harmony are the key notes of the Parthenon with its stately doric columns. The golden glow of age suffuses the marble and fragments of frieze and metopes still impress us with the unrivaüed art of Phidias. At the beginning of the last century Lord Elgin tore the best of these sculptured gems from their proper setting and transported them to London — to the British Museum. Little is left of the sculptured struggle between Centaurs and Lapithae. Byron in his poem "Childe Harold" bitterly attacked this piece of vandalism. It may however be mentioned, that Lord Elgin's intention was to preserve these works of art from total destruction. When he was accused of vandalism and even dishonesty, a Select Committee of the House of Commons, which enquired into the whole matter, entirely exonerated him. In the temple stood the ivory statue of Pallas Athene in her golden mantle and outside was the tall guardian figure of Athene Polias with the golden spear. Near the Doric Parthenon, contrasting with its sublime dignity, is the Erechtheion with its delicate Ionic pillars. Far-famed is its porch of Caryatids, suggesting both calmness and strength as they bear their age old burden. completed on October 28th 1932, the anniversary of the Fascist Revolution. This road, called the Via del Mare, 28 km long and 30 m wide, a truly splendid autostrada, begins in the very heart of the ancient city. Standing on the Piazza Venezia one sees to the right of the new road the Palazzo Venezia, one of the f inest in Rome, and the Palazzo San Marco. To the left is the tomb of Italy's Unknown Soldier, and the monument to King Victor Emmanuel. From this point the road runs to the Piazza Aracoeli, with to the left the hill on which is the Capitol and a flight of marble steps leads to the mediaeval Church of St. Maria in Aracoeli. The Capitol, with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, was the centre of religious life for the Ancient Romans. The present palace on the Capitol is a restoration by Michael Angelo of the Tabularium, which housed the state archives of ancient Rome. From a small terrace, at the back of this building, we obtain a splendid bird's eye view of the Forum Romanum. The road goes on to the Theatre of Marcellus which has been carefully restored and ia one of the f inest specimens of ancient Roman architecture. The Emperor Augustus built it in A.D. 13 naming it after bis nephew, Marcellus, and it was constructed to hold 14.000 spectators! The old paving has been excavated in front of the theatre, as well as some remains of the adjacent Porch of Octavia. On the other side of the road remains of the Forum Holitorium have come to light, and past the theatre, near the Church of San Nicola in Car- 1. Foro Mussolini 2. Modern Picture Gallery 3. Villa Borghese (museum) 4. Piazza di Spagna 5. Trinita de Monti (church) 6. Ministry of Corporations 7. Post and Telegraph Office 8. Quirinal 9. Piazza Colonna 10. Piazza del Popoio 11. Palace of Justice 12. Castel S. Angelo 13. S. Peter (cathedral) 14. Vatican Museum 15. Pantheon 16. Thermae of Diocletian (museum) 17. Central Railway Station 18. S. Maria Maggiore (cathedral) 19. Thermae of Trajan 20. Colosseum 21. Forum of Trajan 22. Forum Romanum 23. Palatine Hill 24. Capitol 25. Emmanuel Memorial 26. Palazzo Venezia 27. Theatre of Marcellus 28. Thermae of Caracalla 29. Lateran Palace 30. S. John of Lateran (cathedral) 31. S. Paul (cathedral) 32. Goods Railway Station. High above Cairo rise the minaret* of the mosque of Mohammed AU. A witness of the dawn of civüisation, the Sphynx, overlooking the Volley of the Nile since countless centuries. Approachmgthe Forum from thw side, one comes upon the triumphal Arch of Titus, on which are yivid reliëfs «presenting the sack of the Temple at Jerusalem. The soldiers pass hearing their booty; notice the six brancned Jewish candlestick8 they carry. TP™ W ïght T T real Forum> m *• remains of the Temple of Romulus, founder of Rome, on the left the house of the Vestal Virgins. To-day flowers bloom again in the garden of the house around Aesacred lake. This, we feel, must be pleasing to the shades of those patncian maidens who served Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, and kept alignt the sacred flame Aeneas brought from Troy. There are so many things to look at here; further to the left we see the once splendid Temple of Castor and Pollux and the eight Ionian Columns ot the Temple of Saturn; we also catch a glimpse of the temples of Vespasmn and of Concordia, standing by the side of a road near the Forum, the ancient Chvus Capitolinus. his' Temn£°T t00' f AU Beginnings, Janus, had TTtLv? h°m m°nth J^^y " named. Near this is the Umbihcus - very centre, as the name implies, of Ancient Rome. We have now reached the huge, damaged Arch of Septimus Severus and Z!*TyfPT%t0 ^l*^ be8Uty of *• slend« ~lumn in the middle of the Forum which once bore the statue of the Emperor Phocas lhe Forum, ongmally the centre of the city's civic life, was once a morass between the CapitoUan and Palatine Hills, but was drained by means of the Cloaca Maxima. On the Palatine, hül of palaces, can still yet^andTfT f *" ^ T^rfm "d the gfeat ^gments, wWcï yet stand of the luxury palace of Domitian. th^vT m°re .?a(me8 onJyJ on *• ri«ht bank of the Tiber is St Peters, theVatican and CasteUo Sant'Angelo, the Tomb of Hadrian, converted to a fortress in the middle ages. In the south of the city are the ruins of the Baths of CaracaUa on the Via Appia, along which too, Ue the Catacombs. In the centre of the to-dï™ W Pantheon' *• only Ancient Roman building £ use FROM ROME TO ATHENS Greece** ^ ^ fly ^ Rome> Brindiai and the Straits of Otranto to The Appenines arè crossed unless weather conditions make it pre- ^SJÏStZZ™*PMt Naples' Ve8uviu8' l8le of Capri S h JÜ "i!?^*880* flymgL 0Ver 016 stran«ely shaped Umestone rocks with ÏZ <^\e-ShaPed.Crater °f 3 lon^ extinct volcan°> across valkys with turbulent wild mountain streams and villages all beneath the clear skies and sunshine of the South. fro^entV!nt°' ü!0ng *• Vi" Appia on me K« Volturno, seems iT alr/ de.lectable spot with its twelfth century castle and town walls. Here, too, is the Triumphal Arch of Trajan. Wings Across Continents 3 The busy port of Brindisi lies at the end of the Appian Way which is marked by a castle with a massive round tower. Amere ribbon of water, from the airman's point of view, separates Italy from Corfu, the lovely isle off the coast of Greece, where olive trees and dark cypress grovea cover the mountains, and where the orange- and lemontrees, agaves, opuntia and prickly pear all flourish in profusion. No wonder the Ex-Kaiser loved his villa south of the capital of Corfu, the Achilleion. Greek myth made Corfu the home of the pleasure-loving Phaeacians. Here, the spot where Odysseus came ashore after his shipwreck to be met by Nausicaa, is still pointed out, and Ponticonissi, a curiously shaped rock-isle south of Corfu, is the very vessel turned into stone, in which the Phaeacians conveyed Odysseus home to Ithaca. As we fly on we see in turn along the rocky coast of Epirus the little towns of Parga and Preveza, and over the Gulf of Arta to the south Parnassus, the Mountain of Apollo and the Muses. The view across the Gulf of Corinth where the coastline, fantastic in its contours, glows with colour against the deep blue of the sea, is truly magnificent. Athens is now close at hand. We already described the town on page 26. ATHENS 1. Acropolis, with Parthenon, Erechtheion, Propylaeae, Temple of Nike and Museum 2. Mount Lycabettus 3- Monument of Philopappos 4. Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory 5. Hill of the Areopagus 6. Stadium (reconstructed) 7- Zappeion (Exhibition Hall; modern) 8. Olympeion 9- Arch of Hadrian 10. Theater of Dionysos ii- Odeion t2. Theseion 13- Roman Agora and Tower of the Winds 14- Library of Hadrian (remains) 15- National Muséum 16. Polytechnical School and Picture Gallery '7- University 18. Municipal Theatre 19. Central Post Office 20. Telegraph Office 21. Railway Station 22. Station of the underground railway to Piraeus 23. Parliament 24. Hospital 25- Former Royal Palace 26. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 27- Former Royal Gardens (now public park) 28. President's Palace 29. The Netherlands Legation 30. British Legation 3i- U.S.A. Legation 32. French Legation 33- German Legation 34- Italian Legation 35- Hotel de la Grande Bretagne VI VIA CRETE TO EGYPT Our remote ancestors regarded the Mediterranean as a perilous sea tvTwT^LT:ian inconvenient obstacle t0 -y. «ss S^ta^SE SCarCCly noöce *~ «* «* water, dividing K„^e ^ ILaJigate*.the ocean of ^ carea little whether stormv seas barren deserts or inhospitable mountain. he beneath him, for Sffi are no more to hun than the contour, of the ocean-bed to the caSn of a merchant vessel upon the high seas captain pJLTiïïSïZ iST WC T"?**? * rf *• Piraeus, and op- ^Temïof Soï *" hCadland ^ 8 fW marbIe — r,,,^^ .air-traveUe,r ^ere may seem to be something symbolic in this rumed and neglected Temple of the Sea God, for which with manv a prayer the Athenian seaman steered his anxious coursTonceTast SuuLn pX^^K8ht glf ? thC f°lden ^ar-poinToftKtfrof was! ended ' * W AcroDoUa> "> his homeward voyage SeSf W87 ^ ove£*e Pleasant isles of the Archipelago: Thermia. CRETE . ™»* ^ mystenous isle of high mountains and deep green vallevs Souï rf3?8^8 °- ?*yCeni8n forerunner o/th^of Hellas' South of Candia wrth ,ts great Venetian fortress, lie the remains of the once proud1 city of Cnossus, proof that the realm of King MiTs was no ~nÏTof S Th7 PelapS F***" CXistence 0f the Mino^uTbut discovered Hi^Jt T^u ** fabled have been excavaterf^^T V8nS' Wh°l by 016 is a confirmed air-traveller excavated and partly restored the Minoan palace early in the oresenr century, and every winter still continues his researches P Legend has it, that the first airmen hailed from this spot. Daedalus and Icarus, his son, built the Labyrinth for King Minos, and did their work so well, that they were themselves entrapped in the maze. Like other aviators after them, they were determined not to be defeated, and rose triumphantly upon wings of wax. The father warned the son not to fly too high, lest the sun should melt the wings, but Icarus, intoxicated with the delight of flying, forgot his father's warning, the wings melted and he plunged headlong into the sea. Ever since that unfortunate "forced landing" it has been known as the Icarian Sea. To-day the visitor can climb as high as the third storey of the palace, up steps 4000 years old, rebuilt of fragments found on the spot. He can seat himself on the very throne of King Minos, or if humility so dictates, he may content himself with a mere Minister's seat in the hall of thegriffion frescoes. Below are store-rooms, with rows and rows of gargantuan earthenware pots for the storage of corn and olive oil. There is an altar connected with the mysteries of a serpent cult, upon which stand porcelain images of priestesses, wasp-waisted and beflounced like our great-grandmothers, or like the fashions which, in the eternal cycle of things, are upon us again to-day. Excellent was the water supply of the palace; admirable were its bathrooms, and quite modern in many respects was its sanitation.... in the year 2000 B.C. EGYPT After an uneventful sea crossing of some 250 miles of the Mediterranean, the route to Egypt may take our aeroplane over Merza Matruh, a nas cent seaside resort amidst the desert sands, and then along the coast to Cairo. A travelier s impressions of this country will be: sapphire blue sea, bordering arid yellow plains of sand and then the green delta of the Nile — if it is not flooded — a wealth of corn and cotton fields, with little towns and villages in the midst of palm trees, which are all but submerged when the waters of the Nile rise. Felucca's with their pointed sails skim the myriad branches of the river, and the mud huts in*which the fellahs live look much like mole heaps when seen from the air. But what enthralls us, if we are new to this country and holds our attention even though we be familiar with Egypt, is our approach to the Pyramids, sharply outlined, no less mysterious than the Sphynx, which crouches enigmatically at the foot of the largest of them, the Pyramid of Cheops. Little is known for certain of their true significance to those who built Impression from Cairo. Cairo, Mosque of Kait Bey. Brass bazaar in the Muski. Cairo, Ibn Tulun mosque with ramshorn-shaped minaret. in* Mosque of Sultan Hassan has the tallest minaret in Cairo The most sacred place of the Mosque, the mithrab, the niche indicating the direction of Mecca, is supported by pillars of coloured marble. The walls too, are of coloured marble, decorated with texts from the Koran ' The oldest Mosque of the city, Gami Amr Ibn El-Assi, (nowoutside the town, near Old Cairo") dates from 642 and many legends are associated with it. It is believed for example, that the spring used for the washing of feet, is fed by the same water as the spring in the mosque at Mecca. Of one pf the pillars it is said, that Caliph Omar of Mecca brought it to Cairo with one crack of his whip! Worship only takes place in this mosque once a year, on the last Friday of Ramadan, when the King of Jigypt is mvariably present. The Gami El-Azhar is a mosque and at the same time one of the most important Mohammedan universities in the world. The university is supported entirely by voluntary contribution and there are some 15 000 students of all naüonalities, most of them poor. Among them is a grouo 01 Javanese students. Another mosque, that of Tulun, dating from 875, resembles the Kaaba at Mecca. It has a magnificent gallery stodded with rose windows, all of ditterent design, and a curious minaret, shaped like a ram's horn Outside the town are the beautiful, though neglected Tombs of the Caliphs. In their neighbourhood is the small Kait Bey Mosque, one of the fmest specimens of Arabian architecture. Arabian art may be studied in the Arabian Museum, where specimens «ismmuiware, carvea wooa and brass-work may be seen, and where a unique collection of enamelled glass mosque- < lamps is housed. The art of making these lamps has been | lost. In Egypt, where Mohammedanism predominated for centuries, the little sect of Christian Copts has survived as well as in Abyssinia, despite great persecution. Like the fellahs, the Copts may be regarded as true descendants or me ancient ügyptians;theircomplexion is almost fair. ■ They cling to the ancient language and religious rites of their church, and though their services are conducted in Copö'c, many of the priests do not understand the language. The r™*;,. A/r„„» u , . . -"--^^"«-"iiiociiun-uiiiiiiiisuiu papyri, prayer books, pnestly robes and sacred vessels. There are six small Coptic churches m the town, the best preserved of which is the Abu-Sargah where there is a crypt which, according to tradition, sheltered the Holy Family for a month after the flight into Egypt. 1 Pne^°f most beautiful üghta in Cairo is a sunset, seen from the lotty Citadel, from where one overlooks the tremendous, throbbing town, with the winding Nile and the eternal pyramids in the background ISLAM Our flight over the Mediterranean has brought us from the Christian to the Moslem world. Until we reach Burmah, we will fly over countries, in which the Mohammedan religion prevaüs or at least occupies an important position. Therefore some facts regarding the Moslem creed and its founder will perhaps not be amiss. In April 571 of our era, when Arabia was yet pagan, Mahomet was born at Mecca. We know little of bis youth, but at the age of 25 he married a wealthy merchant's widow, Cadidcha, in whose service he had been. During the long voyages he made on account of his wife's business, he thought much about religion. He studied Christianity and the Jewish faith, but found no satisfaction in them. At the age of 40 he had visions of the Archangel Gabriel, whocommanded him to found an new religion. His wife was the first to believe in him as a prophet, but most of his pagan tribesmen regarded him as a fooi. The slaves and lower classes took his part however, and were persecuted in consequence. The situation becoming critical, Mahomet f led from Mecca to Jathrib, since called Al Medina, "The Town of the Prophet". The day of his flight, the 6th July 622, is called "Al Hegira" and is the beginning of Arabic chronology. After many struggles with Mecca, its inhabitants accepted Mahomet's religion in 630. Two years later the Prophet died and was buried in Medina. The creed Mahomet created was called Islam, "perfect surrender to God". It is contained in the Koran, which is to be considered as God's revelations to Mahomet. In the Koran, influences of the Christian and Jewish religion are apparent: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ are recognised as prophets, but Mahomet himself is the last and greatest prophet, to whom not the power to work miracles, but the sword to destroy unbelief was given. The Moslem faith knows five principal commands, the first is: to read the Koran and to say five prayers a day, with the face turned in the direction of Mecca. The second appoints Friday the day of universal divine service. CAIRO I ï. K.L.MV Agent 2. Opera 3. General Post Office 4. Eastern Telegraph Office 5. Mam Railway Station 6. Bab el Luq Railway Station 7. Terminus of Electr. Tramway to Heliopolis 8. Egyptian Museum 9. Arabian Museum 10. Thos. Cook & Sons - Wagons Lits 11. American Express Cy. 12. Shepheard's Hotel 13. Continental Savoy Hotel 14. Semiramis Hotel 15. Gezira Sporting Club 16. Exhibition Ground 17. Barracks 18. Mixed Tribunal 19. Abdin Palace 20. Nilometer 31. Governorate 22. British Residency 23. Ministry of Foreign Affairs 24. Ministry of Interior and Finance 25. Ministry of Justice 26. Ministry of Public Works 27. Ministry of Communications 28. Ministry of Commerce. & Industry 29. Ministry of Agriculture 30. Ministry of Education 31. Ministry of Wakf. 32. Mohammed Ali Mosque 33- Sultan Hassan Mosque 34- El Rifai Mosque 35- El Azhar Mosque & University 36. Ibn Tulun Mosque 37- Amr Ibn El Assi Mosque 38. Aq Sunquz Mosque (the Blue Mosque) 39- Kait Bey Mosque 40. Abu Bekr Mosque 41- Church of Abu Sargah (Coptic) with Crypt Church 42. "Hanging Church" (Coptic) with Chapel of St. Mark and Coptic Museum 43- Joseph's Well 44- British Protestant, Coptic, Maronite and various other Christian Cenieteries 45. R.C. Cemetery 46. Jewish Cemetery 47- Armenian Cemetary CAI RO ■ "°"° ' tPnTh^ftIïjrd-COmmand 5°ncerM charity: «ach Moslem must give one tenth of his income to the poor. The fourth command regards the fast-days: during the month of Ra^!dan. Mo8l«» =»ust fast as long as the sun shinef. 1 he tifth command concerns pilgrimage, once in bis life every Moslem has to visit the Kaaba in Mecca. iviosiem Other commands exist, mostly with concealed hygienic significance concernmg cleanhness of the body, abstention from pork, S e ' Marnage ,s a sacrament and though polygamy is permitted, the Moslem S^f Tn f0Ur Wives- Moslems beli«ve in an irreVocS predestination; those who die in battle for their faith, go straight to Para dTkWlt7 ^ ftÜfÜlmcnt of d*üghts awaits fhem * After Mahomet s death Osman became caliph (originally spiritual as wel as wordly head) of the Moslems, but after his decease the MahÓmeda^ wor d sph up into aects. In Medina Ali, Mahomet's son-in-laT was elected caliph, but in Syria another caliph was chosen. ShlïïfT q"arrel8cdivi.ded followers; Ali's adherents were called tW f 11 ^; Sunnites. The doctrines of both still exist and have ErSSW^m ^ T**ï W°rld- The Sunnites form the vast majorfty! the bhiah sect prevails in Iraq and Iran of K,^fq T tÜli tomb" of ^ mo8t venerated Shiah ^ ^ at^fiïï'?*^S^^caaM™i*"adVi* *e anniversary periSed wl^dTh™ ^.f"^Hussain, g^^on of ^ p hey S. 7 u foUower8 "> » battle against the overwhelming SliXST °" ^ ^ *»~ «» t0mb * « " ve? aré^uLTteï6*'8 ^ ^ Z°° adheren*. of which 96% VII PALESTINE, TRANS-JORDAN AND IRAQ For most of us, Palestine evokes memories, perhaps bitter-sweet, of our childhood, when we had the wonderful Biblical stories read aloud to us, and received our infant impressions of Bible lands from the vividly coloured illustrations of our Scripture books. If it is the Palestine of the Bible we wish to see, we are, alas! a few years too late, for here, where nothing changed for centuries and centuries, the last few years have altered everything. The change has been brought about by the war in part but mainly — by petroleum. We cross the Suez Canal near El Kantara, from where during the war hundreds of miles of railway and water pipes were laid down, leading away to El Arish in the desert. Over the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula we travel, and as we pass this desolate region with its few scattered oases, we remember that here Moses received the Tables of the Commandments. We see the excavations near Gerar in Edom and the phrase "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe" may occur to us. "From an aeroplane", the whimsical thought may strike us, "it would really be feasible to perform this curious rite." PALESTINE In Palestine Sir Flinders Petrie, the British archaeologist, has wrested new secrets from the soil at Beth-pelet, and his excavations here on the site of the strongest fortress of Solomon and David against the Egyptians, have brought to light ornaments, excelling even those of Egypt in beauty. Gaza, our port of entry into Palestine, is a peaceful oasis, though it has been the scène of bitter warfare from the beginning of history up to the present day. This is the ancient land of Philistria so hostile to the Jews. Here Samson met his death, and such soldiers as Joshua, Herod, the Crusaders, Napoleon and Allenby, planned and fought their batdes. There are yellow plains round Gaza, but near by is the fruitful land of Sefela, bright with varying shades of green. More to the east is undulating Judea with terraces of red ploughland upon its slopes, where white houses, shining in the sun, denote Bethlehem, high upon a mountain plateau. Baghdad, New Street. I From the air Bagh- I dad, the ancient \ town of Harun-al- I Raschid, looks like n an oriental carpet. The golden domes of Kadhimain. Baghdad, vista through an inner court of the Kadhimain mosque. JERUSALEM Golgotha "the place of akuUs", can be diatinguiahed by the cupola of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre within the walls of the Old Town Mount Monah ia crowned with the Rock Mosque of Omar on the site of toeAncient Temple of Solomon, and within is an altar of sacrifice not made by the hand of man. It is a piece of projecting rock and has been in use for centuries as an altar of sacrifice. This ia the site of the threshing f loor which King David bought for So shekels of süver from Araunah the Jebusite and upon which Solomon, his son, was to build the Temple Titus, in the year 70 A.D. destroyed Jerusalem so completely that scarcely one stone of it remained upon another. Of that ancient city there remains but die Ecce Homo Arch in the Via Dolorosa, the lower porton of a piece of the wall round the Temple, of which the famous Wailing Wall torms part, and a few other minor fragments, which date from the time 01 duist. We fly over the Mount of Olives with the Garden of Ghetsemane. Deep between ranges of bleak mountains Ues the Dead Sea, 400 metres (1200 feet) below sea level, into which the Jordan flows, near the languishing httie town of Jericho. TRANS-JORDAN Bare and desolate too, are the mountains of TransJordan, the bibUcal Land of the Moabites, where there are but a handful of insignificant little towns, such as Laban and Amman. The latter is the capita! of the British mandated territory and somewhere to the east, in the seemingly limitless desert, Ues the frontier of Iraq. IRAQ This is the country, which the British "Tommy", with the aptness of his kind. desnrihp H «■ ".«ii» „—1' miies ana mnes ot aamn-aü" — a description which cannot be bettered. In toe north, opposite Mosul, is what once was Nineveh, the proud capital of the mighty Assyrians; in the middle of the country is Babyionand m toe south aU that is left of Ur of the Chaldees, the native land ot Abraham. Now one sees but a few scattered nomad tents and cattle enclosures, yet once this land of the Tigris and Euphrates was a garden of flowers and palm trees, producing dates, figs, corn, wine and oü. Legend has it, that wildernis6 * ^ D°W h M a ««n-tortured The Iraq State Railways, originaUy constructed during the war to carrv British troops to the interior, were left to be of enormous benefit to the country in peace tune. One line runs from Basra, on the Persian Gulf. along the Euphrates to Baghdad and thence two lines run northward Other places of importance may be reached by the railway motor-bus service. Rutbah Wells is an outpost in mid-desert, halfway along the motorroad from Damascus to Baghdad. The track, followed by the cars, was made with a steam plough and there are directional arrows and letters of enormous size, very clearly visible from the air, and forming, for lack of more interesting scenery, a welcome break in our monotonous desert journey. Over a large portion of Iraq irrigation, destroyed some six centuries ago by the Mongols, has been taken in hand again. Curiously enough the more primiti ve the method the more successful it is, for the Arab farmer mistrusts the tractor and other mechanical agricultural instruments as his fellow labourer in Europe did when they were first introduced. There are, however, other new traces of human activity in the desert: the pipe lines for petrol. After England had become mandatory power over Iraq, British, French, American and Iraqi interests founded the Iraq Petroleum Company. The spirit had to be brought from the oilfields near Mosul to a Mediterranean port of shipment, and some difficulty was experienced at the commencement in deciding which port was to be used. Great Britsin wanted a pipe line from Mosul to Haifa in Palestine, also a British mandated territory. French interests demanded a pipe line to Tripoli, on account of their Syrian mandate. Agreement was reached by laying a doublé pipe line from Mosul to Haditha on the Euphrates, whence the English line goes via Rutbah to Haifa, the only port in Syria and Palestine capable of accommodating ships of big tonnage at its quays. From Haditha the French pipe line makes for the port of Tripoli in Syria. The air route from Gaza to Baghdad owes much to these activities, for it runs for hundreds of miles parallel with the pipe lines and the motor road — a beautiful landmark — through the desert. The Iraq Petroleum Company has also established its own aerodromes in many places along the line. Bef ore the days ot the pipe line the öntish Koyai Air Jforce had already established a chain of emergency landing grounds along this route, much to the convenience of commercial aviation. BAGHDAD Baghdad, once a city of fairy-tales has indeed f allen upon e vil days, and the spirit of Haroun al Raschid no longer hovers over it. Here and there in the dirty, noisy streets one obtains a glimpse, in some narrow alley, of a flowerbright inner court with a tinkling fountain beneath a lemon tree, and it is true that there is a Biblical dignity about the goat herds outside the city near the aerodrome. For the rest, Baghdad is a nightmare of incongruity, where Datepalm with fruits, one of the principal foods of the Arabs. Bunset on the river Tigris. Shatt-el-Arab, the muddy mouth of Tigris and Euphrates. all of the west that is slovenly has been adopted by the east. Beside a heavily laden ass rattles an equally heavily laden Ford of ancient design and the women no longer draw water from irnmemorial wells in slender earthern jars, but m petrol Ons! The painted wooden houses are patched with rusty corrugated iron and only the gufa, that tubby, circular boat which die ancient Assyrians used upon the Tigris, has remained unchanged and ui daily use for perhaps 60 centuries or more. Baghdad, founded in 76a by Caliph Mansur, has been a prey to the greatest vicissitudes. In its first period of prosperity all the shipping of the Iigns called at Baghdad, and caravans bringing eastern goods to Europe passed through the city. Pilgrirns to the sacred shrines of Islam travelled southward from Baghdad, and art, science and commerce flourished beneath the nile of its Caliph, spiritual head of all Mohammedans and ruler of a World Empire. When the Caliph removed his seat of government to Samarra, the important* of Baghdad dwindled, yet it was a big city in a fertile country untd, about 1258, it was ravaged by Hulaku-Khan with his Mongol hordes and was again, shortly afterwards, plundered by the mighty Tamerlane! It was these Mongols who reduced a flourisbing and verdant country to an arwmmation of desolation by systematically destroying the network of ïrngation throughout the country. Centuries of stagnation and decay followed under Persian or Turkish role. In 1917 the Turks surrendered Baghdad to the British under General Maude and afterthe waritbecame the capitalofthe new Arabian state of Iraq Like other new rulers in the Near East, some mysterious instinct urged King Feisa to mvent a new national headgear, the sidara, which resembles a sombre glengarry or "forage cap". There is little of interest in Baghdad, which consists mainly of aUevs passages and mües of covered bazaars. A rapidly growing collection of Assynan anüqwties, chief amongst which are golden ornaments from a royal tomb at Ur is housed in the little Museum founded by Miss Gertrude Bell, the well known traveller in Mesopotamia. Baghdad's oldest monument is the minaret of Suq el Ghaail, the sole remains of the palace-mosque of the Caliphs built about 900 A.D. There are other mosques containing features of interest. A mosque which atc£Cï a^T^V* paSlhaa » that containing the tomb of bheik Abdul Kadir, a Sunni saint. Unlike the mosques in Egypt the mohammedan sanctuaries in Iraq are strictly unaccessible to unbelievers. On the west bank of the Tigris is a kind of pointed tower, consisting of rows of arched mches partitioned on the inside with stalactite-shaped stones. fn each is a small aperture throughwhichthesunlightfalls.causing IZu t ^ °f h?h* ^ 8hade within- According to legend it is the tomb of Zobaide, fair favounte of Haroun al Raschid. Five miles up the Tigris is Kadlumain, the burial place of two princes. -/"AT f"0^1^»8 8 81te «garded with the utmost veneration by the Shiite Moslems. The two golden cupolas and four golden minarets can be discerned from the aeroplane miles away. At a distance of about ten miles from the city is Agar Kuf , an enormous images. The Parsees are descendants of Persians, who fled from their country before the conquering armies of Islam; they have remained faithful to their ancient creed, the doctrine of Zoroaster. From the air the Oyster Rocks, a small group of rocky islands set in the harbour mouth, are clearly viaible; the Manora Head reef which projects many miles into the sea with a lighthouse at the end, is another landmark, and near the aerodrome we see the immense airship hangar and mooring mast. Behind Karachi lies an inhospitable region. Near by are the broad river beds of the Indus delta, which are nearly dried up for part of the year, and east of the river the boundless waste of rocks and sand begins. This is the Indian or Thar Desert. We pass Hyderabad (Sind) famed as the hottest town on earth, where in summer the thermometer may register as much as 135° F. or more in the shade. On the roofs are tall chimney-shaped ventilators to capture every little breath of air which may bring coolness. JODHPUR After dus it is refreshing to come to Jodhpur where, amidst strangely shaped rocks, we may catch a glimpse of verdure and the sparkle of blue water in little lakes. Jodhpur is the capita! of Marwar, which takes its name from "Maruwar", the land of death. It ia the largest of the old warlike Hindu kingdoms of Rajputana. Its ruler, Maharaja Umed Singhji, is a most enlightened Prince, a keen motorist and an enthusiastic airman, thus there are excellent roads around Jodhpur, and also a splendid aerodrome with a luxurious hotel. Jodhpur and its citadel, a grey and threatening castle upon a lock overlooking the city, were founded in 1459 by Rao Jodhaji, after whom the city is named. The rock fortress with its temples and palaces keeps alive the memory of much glory and much cruelty. In accordance with widespread ancient custom, a man was buried alive in its foundations. Each of the seven chief gateways commemorates some victory over neighbouring enemies. On the seventh gateway are the scarlet imprints of many delicate little hands. They are sad memorials of widowed princesses, who left the citadel by this gate for ever, to die upon the funeral pyre of the dead princes, their husbands, according to the heroic but terrible custom of "suttee". The f inest of the four palaces within the fortress walls is the Phul Mahal, the Flower Palace. There is also the Palace Moti Mahal, where the crown jewels are kept, the Fateh Mahal and the Singar Chowki, where the rulers are crowned. Out of the rock bubbles a spring, the Chiria Nathjika Jharna. It was on account of this rare blessing in the "land of death" that Rao Jodhaji forsook his old capital, Mandore, for this site. But close to the spring dwelt Chi- place of pilgrimage. Near Mirzapur and Chunar, if the weather is clear we may obtain a glimpse of Benares, the great sacred city of the Hindus. At Gaya is the most venerated Buddhist shrine, where an old wild fig tree (a bhodi-tree) surrounded by a terrace, indicates the spot where the Teacher found enlightenment. To the south-east, over the hill country of Behar, we come to the plain of Bengal with myriads of villages, towns, roads, green and brown fields, gleaming water — vast, sunny, fruitful. Here, on the Hooghli, is Calcutta, second town of the British Empire. Close by begins the Ganges delta, a region of turbid streams cutting up the land into little dull green strips and flowing through mangrove swamps and along yellow mudbanks into the Bay of Bengal. CALCUTTA Captain Alexander Hamilton, American statesman and friend of George Washington, visited Calcutta in 1710 and wrote as follows: "The English settled there about the year 1690, after the Moghul had pardoned all the robberies and murders, committed on his subjects. Mr. Job Charnock, being then the Company's agent in Bengal, had liberty to setde an emporium in any port on the river'a side below Hughly, and for the sake of a large, shady tree he chose that place, although he could not have chosen a more unhealthful spot on the whole river." It is amusing to reflect that what the American writer regarded as "robberies and murder", tough old Job Charnock (commercial pioneer of an age which did not work in white kid gloves) and his employers the Honourable East India Company, no doubt referred to as the spreading of western civilization. It is all a matter of point-of-view. At all events Job Charnock after having been attacked several times by the Great Mogul, managed to establish himself in what is still the heart of Calcutta, now Dalhousie Square. Not a stone of his original settlement exists now, but the original water reservoir, the Lall-Dighi or Red Tank, still remains. Near by Fort William was constructed, named after England's Dutch monarch, William III. The old fort came to a tragic end when Siraj-udDaulah, Nabob of Bengal, attacked the town in 1856, burning and plundering. The inhabitants f led to the ships or took refuge within the walls of Fort William where,owingtothecarelessnessof the Governor, munition was lacking. When this fact was ascertained at a council of war, the Governor calmly departed with the ships to the consternation of those left behind. Holwell, the Garrison Doctor, restored order and took command. When surrender was inevitable, the Nabob promised to spare the 146 survivors, but they were driven into a dungeon which would scarcely hold twenty. After a night of terrible suffering only twenty-three people, amongst them Holwell, left the "Black Hole" alive. The victims were thrown into a ditch where later Holwell errected a brick obelisk to their memory, with their names inscribed upon it. This had long disappeared when Lord Curzon, the Viceroy, had a marble duplicate of the obelisk put up in 190a. Near Near Upper Crrcular Road are the Jain Temples on both sides of a narrow lane. The first is situated in a fantastic garden, where peacocks stut amongst the flowers and bidden doves coo in the trees. A green pond reflects thei surroundings, unbroken by any rippk. There is also the Shish Mahal, the Palace of Mirrors, where ceüing, walls and floor aU sparkle with mulu coloured glass: behind this is a fairy garden with a white marble pavihon. Here is peace, emphasised by the sound of running waters the soothing murmur of doves and the song of birds. High above all rises the Temple, with colours almost too bright and varied in the sun. Calcutta is also a university town and one of its most interesting places is the Research Institute founded by Sir Jagadish Chundar Bose. Here he carnes on his well-known research work connected with the physiclogical reaction of animals and plants, in order to show that these are identical in the animal and vegetable kingdom. Dumdum with the well-known ammunition factory lies at some distance to the north-west of the town. Here is the airport of Calcutta. IX BURMA, SIAM, MALACCA AND SUMATRA Between India and Burma lies thatbrilliant 'blue water, the Bay of Bengal. On the Burmese shore is the small, rice exporting port of Akyab, where we may possibly land. South of Akyab lies a splendid archipelago. From the air the islands lie outlined in vivid blue sea where there are coral reefs gay with grass-green seaweed. South of the long. narrow island of Ramree. near Sandoway, our flight lies over the summits of the Arakan Yoma mountains, clothed in primaeval forests. On the Irrawaddy river we come to towns again — Henzada and Tharrawaddy; on the river delta are the two great rice ports, Rangoon and Bassein. RANGOON The aerodrome is at Mingaladon, which might well be the name of some prehistorie animal rather than of a modern airport. It is far from the centre of the town, which is large and up to date, with delightful parks and ornamental waters. It is worth while visiting the Victoria Lakes with the Yachting Club, the Royal Lakes where is the Boat Club, and the Sacred Lakes which he along the Wingaba Road. Rangoon, besides being a commercial town, has its university, but above all it is the site of the most famous of all Buddhist pagodas. Centuries before one stone of Rangoon was laid upon another, the venerable Shwe Dagon on its hill dominated the entire plain of the delta. There seems to be no historie account of its origin, but there is the following legend. In 586 B.C. two brothers, rich Burmese merchants, travelled through the wood near Benares, where the Buddha dwelt at that time. They made him an offering of honey and besought him in turn for a gift. Buddha gave them eight hairs from his head, and when they reached Burma, they determined to build a sanctuary worthy of these precious relics. Their choice feil on the hill in the plain of the great river and in the holy of holies of the original very small pagoda, they hid their treasures. The shrine was constantly added to by the devout and the present pagoda, just North of the town, is said to have been completed about 1564. 1. K. L. M.-Agent and Netherlands Consulate 2. Shwe Dagon Pagoda 3. Soolay Pagoda 4. Government House 5. Government Offices 6. Railway Station 7. Wireless Telegraph Station 8. Dalhousie Park 9. Zoölogical Gardens 10. Agri-Horticultural Gardens 11. Race Course 12. GolfClub 13. Boat Club 14. Gymkhana Club 15. Barracks 16. Cantonment Church 17. R.C. Church 18. Minto Mansions Hotel 19. Strand Hotel ao. General Hospital Around the temple hill there is always life and bustle. Gaily clad Burmese women, lovely with their almond shaped eyes; yellow-robed monks and pilgrims from every Buddhist land, are always to be seen. The sanctuary may only beentered barefoot. Four flights of steps, the threshold guarded by enormous grotesque stone monsters, lead to the terrace onwich the great pagoda stands. The steps are hollowed by the feet of miUions of pilgrims and the vaulted roofs above are of wondrously carved teak. On the steps are stone niches containing sculptures, some of them conveying a wonderful illusion of suppleness representing pre-Buddhist spirits, such as those of moisture, air and fire. There are always little booths upon the steps, where a perpetual market is held, and passing these we come to the terrace of the pagoda, which is 410 feet (125 metres) high and has a circumference on die ground of 1475 feet (450 metres). Plates of polished gold three millimetres thick, cover the lower portion, and the summit is covered with gold leaf. At the very top is the "hti", a sort of umbrella, hung with silver bells and studded with precious stones. Pilgrims and townsfolk walk beneath the shadow of the pagoda or lie prostrate on their faces before one of the thousand smaller pagodas along the edge of the terrace; most of them are gaudy and over-decorated to European eyes. One recognises the style met with in all Buddhist countries, there is a confused medley of the new and the decayed. Burma is a land of pagodas in all stages, from newly built to crumbling, time stricken ruina overgrown by the jungle. The Soolay Pagoda in the centre of the town is worth a visit, and in Moulmein, on the other side of the Gulf of Martaban, we shall see as we fly onwards, the high Kyaiktharlan Pagoda of which Kipling wrote: 'By the old Moulmein Pagoda lookin' eastwards to the sea "There's a Burmah girl a-sitting, and I know she thinks of me. "For the wind is in the palm trees and the temple bells they say "Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay." But we have no Burmah girl a-waiting so we fly on eastward; and above the Tenasserim Hills we cross the frontier into "Muang Thai". THE LAND OF THE FREE PEOPLE This is also, and more commonly, called Siam. Relations between the Netherlands and Siam date from the days of the Netherlands East India Company, with whom Siam concluded a treaty in 1664. Traffic is mainly by water, air or rail, 3000 kilometres of rails have been laid. Roads are lacking to a great extent and the aeroplane is held in high esteem. An air mail service, run by the highly efficiënt Siamese Air Force was started between Bangkok and Chandburi as early as 1920 and A dream of the East: the slender spires of a Bangkok temple. Winging over the jungle of Sumatra 1. Royal Plaza 2. Grand Palace 3. Dusit-Palace (Residence of H.M. the King) 4. Throne Hall 5. Museum 6. National Library 7. KingChulalongkorn'sStatue 8. Swing 9. Wat Po 10. Wat Phra Keo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) 11. Wat Sudat ia. Wat Rajabopitr 13. Wat Sraket and Golden Mount 14. Wat Bencharnabopitr (modern) 15. Wat Arun 16. Institut Pasteur (with poisonous snake farm) 17. Bangkok Turf Club 18. Sports Club (with swimming pool) 19- Oriental Hotel 20. Trocadero Hotel 21. Royal Hotel 2a. Rajdhani Hotel (Royal State Railways) 23. K.L.M. Agency 24. Aerial Transport Cy. of Siam, Ltd. (Agents Imperial Airways and Air France) 25. East Asiatic Cy 26. Banque de lTndo Chine 27. Chartered Bank of India, Australia & China 38. Siam Commercial Bank 29. Hongkong & Shanghai Bank 30. Bank of Canton 31. Central Post & Telegraph Office 32. Central Railway Station 33. Official Information Bureau of the Royal State Railways 34- Custom House 35- Ministry of Justice 36. Ministry of Commerce and Communications 37- Ministry of Agriculture 38. Ministry of Public Instruction 39. Home Ministry 40. Ministry of Foreign Affairs 41. Miniatry of War 42. General Staff Building 43- Cadet School 44. Admiralty 45- Royal Naval College 46. Harbour Department 47- Central Hospital 48. Phya Tai Palace (Hospital) 49- Nursing Home 50. Christ Church 51. Wireless Station 52. Netherlands Legation and Consulate 53- British Legation and Consulate 54- French Legation and Consulate 55- German Legation and Consulate 56. U.S.A. Legation Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn, is famous for its tall, perfectly proportioned Prang or tower, studded with what appear from a distance to be precious stones, but which are in reality fragments of broken pottery. Not all the great buildings are eastern, a matter perhaps for regret. The throne room is in Renaissance style, built entirely of Carrara marble, and the Phya Thai Palace, now a hospital, is western in style. The Aerodrome of Don Muang, with which there is no communication except by rail, lies 25 kilometres north of Bangkok. THE WEST COAST OF SIAM Near Bangkok in country watered by the Menam, is a region of rice and palm trees, but more to the south as far as the Gulf of Siam it is mainly jungle. Between the mouth of the Menam and the southern boun- dary of Siam a great deal of our route goes over the sea, the coast being sometimes out of sight. We see the military aerodrome of Kohlak and the seaside resort of Hua Hin with the Royal Slimmer Palace. We fly over many a village of bamboo houses with yards adjoining them. Siamese women with close-cropped boyish heads, wave greetings to us and the men raise their hands in salute: they wear «1 the sarong caught between the legs and look as though they were clad in voluminous riding breeches. There is no lack of colour in the landscape. We look down upon little isles of red rock arising from a blue sea, where green seaweed grows just below the surface and the rocky shores are covered with palm trees and verdure. MALAYA Passing Sengora we pursue our way to Malaya. We pass over Alor Star where, however, a landing may be made. Not far from Alor Star, near the low, level west coast, we catch a glimpse of a beautiful island, mountainous and covered with green woodlands. There is a gay town, its harbour full of ships, officially known as Georgetown. Most natives will teil you they do not know where Georgetown is, for everybody, everywhere, calls it by its original name, Penang. We fly in south-easterly direction, mostly over jungle, paddy fields or sugar cane and rubber plantations. Here and there are tin mines, for Malacca produces half of the world's tin supply. A similar abundance of tin is found in the Netherlands Indian islands of Banka and Billiton south of the Malayan peninsula. These islands supply a sixth of the world's tin. After crossing the Straits of Malacca, we reach the island of Sumatra. Palembang, situated on the river Musi. Palace of the Sultan of Deli. The submarine volcano Krakatau. The volcano Papandajan (Western Java). SUMATRA Java and Sumatra, the principal islands of the Netherlands East Indies are separated only by a narrow strait and yet, with all their similarity' how different they are! «*"•■*> Java, which has been cultivated for centuries, is as densely peopled as the most populous of European manufacturing districts; whereas Sumatra tour times as big, has a population thirty times smaller. Only within the last few decades or so have planters commenced the work of reclairning the Sumatra Jungle. There are now railways, gold and coal mines, and petroleum; motor roads run through the Jungle and the cannibal Batakkers nave been Chnstianised. Along the whole west coast runs the Bukit Barisan, a mountain chain with volcanoes and lakes, one of which, Lake Toba, is unforgettably lovely. On the coast hne are many harbours, amongst tnem radang, the first of the Dutch settlements. Behind it lie the Padang Highlands with Fort de Koek as their capital. It is a glorious, nch, cultivated country connected with the coast by the famous and beautiful Anei ravine, where the most lovely scenery of the Indies may be seen from the railway running through; here, it is said, is the birthplace of the Malayan race. The east coast plain, which widens southward, is crossed by many rivers. Here Medan, the capital of Deli, is situated. It is a town which is an example of man's tnumph over primeval Nature. Half a century ago it was virgin jungle, then planters came and cleared the ground nlantino- tr,K„^^« rubber and coffee. Deli tobacco became famous and out of nothing grew one of the capitals of the east. Now Medan has residential quarters, water supply, electricity, experimental research stations, a medical institute, vireless, and lastVbuTnot least, it is a terminal station of the K.N.I L M When the mail boat from Holland calls at die 'harbour, Belawan, a connectmg aeroplane leaves for Batavia via Pakan Baru and Palembang, and the Batavia—Medan air service links up with /fc^N the boat for Holland leaving Belawan. The famous hill station -^SfcofBrastagicaneasilybereachedfromMedanbycarorK.N.I.L.M.aeroplane all iT* ZJ°yage over,Sunlatra we may see the work of reclamation in' aU its stages; pnmaeval forest, brown stretches without shoot or blade and more mature plantations with bungalows and outhouses Again we cross the Straits of Malacca, on our way to. SINGAPORE Singapore occupies a site both beautiful and of strategie importance on an island in the Straits of Malacca. It is the main storehouse for the merchandise of the Malayan Peninsula. This town, the capital of the Straits Settlements, is above all the hub of all traffic to the Far East. The island Ues low and on every piece of rising ground one sees the bungalows of the European residents, and the good roads leading to Singapore are easUy noticeable from the air. CircUng above the town we see Keppel Harbour, where tropical vegetation along the banks makes way for the warehouses of Tanjong Pagar, opposite the little islands of Blakan Mati and Pulu Brani; on the latter are the tin smelting furnaces of the Straits Trading Company. Further inland is the town, the two parts of which are connected with bridges over the Singapore River. In forgotten ages the town of Singapura stood where Singapore stands to- day. In 1819 Sir Stafford Raffles founded the present town and it was posterity, not his own generation, which gave him thanks. Eighty per cent of the population of Singapore is Chinese, and in the old quarter on the right bank of the river may be seen some quaint and beautiful old Chinese houses. On the left bank are the Government Buildings, Courts of Justice and the PubUc Hall, the last erected in memory of Queen Victoria. In the main street, the Esplanade, near St. Andrews Cathedral, is the statue of Sir Stafford Raffles erected in 1887; in Orchard Road are the Raffles Museum and Library. The former has a coUection of objects bearing on native industry and natural history. Among the most charming spots on the island are the lake near Thomson Road and the Botanical Gardens, where some of the oldest rubber trees in the island are to be seen. Immediately south of Singapore we cross into Netherlsnds Indian territory again, the Riouw Archipelago and the Lingga Islands. Riouw exports pepper and is populated mainly by Chinese. Tin is the cbief product of Singkep and other Lingga Islands, but the production is small, compared with that of Banka and BiUiton. Near the Djambi Riverdelta we cross the coast üne of Sumatra for the third time and soon we land at the aerodrome — in the midst of the jungle — of SINGAPORE 1. Raffles Square 2. Johnstons Pier 3. Government House 4. Government Offices 5. Municipal Offices 6. General Post Office 7. Telegraph Office 8. Suprème Court 9. Police Court 10. Chinese Protectorate 11. General Hospital 12. Medical College 13. Raffles Museum and Library 14. Victoria Memoral Hall and Theatre 15. War Memorial 16. St. Andrews Cathedral 17. Raffles Hotel 18. Adelphi Hotel 19. Singapore Cricket Club 20. Singapore Recreation Club 21. Golf Pavilion 22. Race Course & Golf Links 23. Botanical Gardens 24. Mount Faber 25. Observatory & Time Bali 26. Flagstaff 27. Lagoon or Empire Doek 28. Dry Docks 29. Tank Road Railway Station 30. Newton Station 31. Cluny Road Station 32. Goods Station 33. Chinese Burial Ground "34. K.L.M.-K.N.I.L.M. Office PALEMBANG This town is situated on, or rather, partly in the River Muai The ïïE^m08tT0f1WeUung80nb0th8ide80f » built oHamboo rafts moored to the shore by poles and rattan ropes. Behind thTraft dwelhngs are houses on pües standing well out of the water; these are S^yh K ?p0Pemngu0n t0 me nver' for native shopping'is mosïy done by boat Between the town and the sea all is marshy country wi h nee fields and cotton plantations. To the north hes Pladju, on" ofthe largest refineries and depots of the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschapnii (subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell combined) maatscnapprj In spite of its great railway yards and its European quarter, Palembamr «more ike a vast native village than a town; it is, nevertheles , an topor- movaTpackefN°1 ?" rf> K°D- Paketvaart Maatschappij (Koyal Packet Navigation Company), leave here three times a week for Batayia,twiceweeklyforMuntokinBanka,andonce a week for Djambi T/ndl'^T^ ^ ^^esfromPalembangtoMu^a EnTrn Sen' Kro^i ,*»««■. *»* from Lahat one%an reach Be£ h ?£?P' ^/^*. «»d tbe south Sumatran plantations After having left eaying Palembang we pass over the Lampong distrSs mamly unpenetrabk jungle, varied only by an occasional SSe of» ÏasSof°™ ^ " ^ *»* 8tattlinS theCrndous masses ot green vegetation. Sunda Straits is studded with small rock islands, amongst others Krakatoa and the Anak Krakatoa, which is submarine and which emits from time to time great volumes of steaming water. In the neighbourhood of Bantam, ancestral home of the miniature fowl we know so well in Europe, the coast of Java appears. Here the sea is blue and green, and fish traps are to be seen stretching out to a great distance from the shore, and everywhere are white-sailed native boats. Then at last we see: Batavia. "The Thousand Islands" and the Bay of Batavia form a charming picture, then there is Tandjong Priok with its harbour and vessels, and the lower town with the Java Bank buildings, the Molenvliet, Hotel des Indes, Weltevreden, the Koningsplein and Waterlooplein, all names which remind the Dutchman of his homeland and give him an impression of coming to another home. It is a pleasant place this, of white houses, trees and brightly coloured flowers. South of Batavia Ues our aerodrome — TjilUitan. The busy centre of Batavia, capital of the Netherlands East Indies. vntrance to the Museum of the Batavian Society for Promotion of Arts and Sciences. The „Amsterdamsche Poort" (Amsterdam Gate), all that remains of Coen's Castle of Batavia. X HOW THE DUTCH CAME TO THE INDIES AND STAYED THERE And now, Java, land of eternal summer, centre and heart of "the beautiful Insulinde entwining the Equator like an emerald girdle." Whether it is business or pleasure which calls you here, you cannot fail to appreciate the beauty and the grandeur of this island. At the beginning of our era the people of India must have brought their traffic, skill and religion to this land. The teachings of Brahminism were grafted upon the animism of the simple children of nature, who saw a soul in every created thing. About 700 A.D. Buddbism reached Java and gained a powerful but less numerous following — witness the Borobudur. Hindu, therefore, was the great Kingdom of Madjahpahit, when in the iSth and ióth centuries, the autumn of its glory, Arabian merchants and adventurers crossed the seas to Java bringing with them the faith of the Prophet. Up to the present this faith has retained its supremacy, 80 % of the populace being Mohammedan. Though the majority do not lindemand the language of the Koran, his faith has a very strong hold upon the native and he will, if he can manage it, follow its injunctions by making the Pilgnmage to Mecca or Medina once in a lifetime. Every year from eight- to fourteen thousand pilgrims from the Netherlands Indies visit these holy cities, and the hadjis (those who have made the hadj or pilgnmage) are much looked up to by their fellow Javanese, from whom they can be distinguished by their white headgear and dress, more or less Arab m style. The faith of Allah, however, has not caused the native completely to neglect the ancient good and evil spirits, to whom he makes sacrifice beneath the sacred banyan tree. In the i3th century, Marco Polo, the famous Venetian, was probably the first white man to visit the East Indian Archipelago. Nearly three centuries later came the Portuguese; Lisbon became the storehouse for its cosdy spices and Dutch vessels carried them from there to every European country. All went well until Philip II of Spain, against whom the Dutch had rebelled, conquered Portugal — But the Dutch did not despair, they had wealth and love of adventure enough, and both could and did sail for the Indies themselves. • ^?.meliu8 Houtman was the first to sail round the Cape to Bantam m West Java in 1595 under commission of a Company founded at Am- sterdam, the "Maatschappij van Verre". He was well received by the native rulers despite Portuguese opposition and purchased Javanese wares, such as nutmeg and cinnamon, in the markets and admired their wonderful silks and the lovely Chinese earthenware. Houtman was a good sailor but a poor diplomat; he became involved in quarrels and sailed further along the north coast of Java. Here he was ill received, but later in Bali he was made so welcome that two Dutchmen of his crew preferred to remain and settle down there. This first expedition resulted in loss instead of profit, but a second fleet led by van Neck came back richly laden. This was followed by the founding of various Companies "van Verre" ("for far-off lands"), but wisely the Stadtholder, Prince Maurice and die Grand Pensionary of Holland, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, managed to induce them to combine, thus forming the United East India Company, a limited company which, by letters patent of March aoth 1602, obtained the trade monopoly and right of sovereign acts in the name of the States General. The Spice Islands, Amboina and the Uliassers, naturally attracted attention first, for spices were the most valued commodity. The Spice Islands were won from the Portuguese, and Ternate and other smaller islands also feil to the victorious Dutch. In 1609 suprème authority over the Archipelago was vested in a Governor General with the Council of India, consisting of four members, as an advisory body. Names and offices have remained unchanged until to-day; just at first there was no fized seat of Government. The fourth Governor General, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, was the real founder of Dutch power in the East Indies. He came of a bourgeois Calvinist farnily in Hoorn and was carefully and piously brought up. In 1607 he went to the east and by 1615 he had become Managing Directer of all the trading offices in the Indies. His triumph came in 1618 when he was appointed Governor General. At that time both the Dutch and the English had trading posts in Bantam and Jacatra in West Java and this was a source of constant jealousy and friction. Without the consent of the native Prince of Jacatra, a vassal of the Sultan of Mataram, Coen, the Governor General, decided to put the Dutch post in a state of complete defence against all attacks and built the Castle of Batavia. The Prince asked aid of the English, and the Dutch in their new Castle were in such a tight corner, that Coen went to the Molluccas for help. Returning with men and ships, he captured the native stronghold of Jacatra and on its ruins founded a new town, which ever since has been the residence of the Governor General. "In this way," he wrote to the "Seventeen", the Managing Board of the Company in Holland, "we have acquired a strong footing and dominion in Java.' In the following years Coen confirmed and extended the Company's authority with an iron hand, and died in the city he had founded whilst the Sultan of Mataram was besieging it. A few of the sayings of this stern man are recorded from his correspondence with the Seventeen. "Never give up hope," he wrote "and never spare your enemies," and again, ''Nothing gives you a better right than power added to right." Coen, like Job Charnock of Calcutta, was a man of his times. Brave, pugnacious, ruthless, his tenacity and courage compel our admiration! He hved in days when men regarded their brown brothers as less than human, and everything was sacrificed to the advancement of commerce — in loyalty to his Company. He committed what to-day would be called barbarous cruelties, but strict Calvinist as he was, he was not ahead of the morality of his times nor could this be expected of him. After Batavia became the centre of trade and of authority, the Dutch steadily eztended their sphere of influence. Malacca was taken from Portugal, a colony was founded at the Cape of Good Hope, Formosa and Ceylon became Dutch territory, as well as parts of the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar. Slowly but inevitably the two great native kingdoms of Java, Bantam and Mataram, strangled their own independence by quarrels into which the Company was not sorry, perhaps, to be drawn as arbitrator. The third Javanese war of succession between the Mataram princes came to an end in 1757 when the kingdom was divided and both princes had to acknowledge that they held their lands as vassals of the Company. These two kingdoms are represented to-day by the princedoms of Djokjakarta and Surakarta. In 1798 the Company was transferred to the State and the loss of one possession ofter another to the English followed, for the Dutch were at that time contending with political differences in Europe. One more strong Governor General ruled from 1808 to 1811, Daendels, called by the natives "Tuwan besar guntur" (Great Lord-Thundererl). He put an end to much official despotism, but instituted forced labour such as went tö make the Great Mail Road from Anjer in the West to Panarukan in the East of Java. He laid the foundations of the present constimtion of Java, a work energetically carried out by the English Governor, Sir Stamford Raffles, who held office after him when Holland temporarily lost Java during the Napoleonic period. By the London Treaties of 1814 and 1824 the Dutch recovered all the possessions they hold at present in the East Indies. It has not always been a peaceful possession. In 1825 a great rebeUion broke out in Java under Diepo Negoro which was not completely suppressed until five years later, but since then Dutch adnuhistration has been undisturbed m the island. At the beginning of the i8th century with the exception of a few coastal regions, the "Outer Possessions" might be regarded as spheres of Dutch influence rather than real possessions. Complete occupation has been achieved slowly, patiendy and with many struggles; it is well known how much trouble Atieh, the northern part of Sumatra' for example, has caused. A peculiarity of Dutch colonial administration is the large and generous share of power allowed to the natives. Everywhere, as far as possible, the native population has remained under its own chiefs, who are acknowledgeed, appointed and salaried by the Government. In Java this is well ülustrated by the fact that the Dutch Resident and the Javanese Regent rule the province like "the elder and the younger brother," which indicates exactly their relative positions as regards authority. The Regent is usually a member of an old, highly esteemed family, having great authority over the people. Under the Regent are District Chiefs (wedono), Sub-District Chiefs (tjamat), and finally village chiefs (lura, kuwuh etc.). Village chiefs are elected by their villages. It is interesting to note how closely the Dutch system follows that of perhaps the f inest colonial administrators the world has known, the early Romans. Under Rome the Batavian, or the Briton, was made to feel that he was a honoured member of the Roman Empire and under Rome also, in Britain for example, to quote R. G. Collingwood's Roman Britain: "The country dis tri ets of Britain were governed, not by a Roman ei vil service but by their own native chiefs, the successors of the pre-Roman landed aristocracy formed into local councils and administering what must have been a mixture of Roman law and local custom." Something of the same spirit has surely influenced the administration of the Dutch in their East Indian possessions. It remains to be noted that since 1916 a representative body, the People's Council, exists in the Dutch East Indies, whose advice sometimes must, sometimes may be requested by the Governor General. It is only representative, however, in so far that it is an assembly partly chosen by the people and it has neither legislative power nor right of veto. A little Javanese gourmet. opeciaiors at a native game. „Look, we are going to be photographedï" The railway station at Batavia. IBatavia, Hotel des Indes. j 1 XI BATAVIA In the matter of harbours Nature has not been generous to Java. On the south coast Tjilatiap in the marshy Banjumas is the only good harbour the rest of the coast being steep and rocky; on the north coast a neverending struggle against silt has to be maintained. #Coen built Batavia close to the sea; now there are many kilometres between town and sea, and east of the town a new artificial harbour has been constructed, Tandjong Priok, a work begun m 1877 which took six years to be completed. I he Batavia of the Company's time was an old Dutch city of canals arched bridges and patrician houses. The Tjiliwung or Kali Besar (Great Kiver) divided the town into eastern and western parts; to the south through low country ran the Molenvliet (the Millstream), so named from the sugar muis which once stood on its banks. It was dug in 1648 The castle has disappeared except for the Amsterdam Gate, an erection ~ ^ uhe?r-S UttK *° admire- Betwee» *wo pairs of heavy pillars stand two black figures, but rt is not now known whom they were supposed to «present. As a further decoration there are eight mther curious urn shaped jars on the arch. Near by Ues a cannon greatly venerated by the natives time havmg endowed it to their minds with mysterious powers ot tertuity. Women sit upon it in the expectation of bearing numerous offspring thereafter, and sacrifices are made to this iron idol which is probably a Portuguese «Uc. Nearest to the seaside is the Town Inn, the Stadsherberg, now a storehouse but formerly the place where new arrivals first set foot ashore. t-ast Kotta Inten are the enormous warehouses of the Company, and turning to the right across the drawbridge over the KaU Besar, we come to Ka 1 Besar West where the« are whole rows of dweUings in old colonial style. Many a fine old house has been preserved in the Binnen- and Buiten Nieuwpoortstraat and the old Town Hall of Batavia stiU remains intact, being to-day the office of the Governor of West Java. It was buUt in I7o7 and those who are mterested in the gruesome, may find there many a «Uc ot the administration of justice in olden times. A curiosity in the eastern quarter of Old Batavia is the Portuguese Buitenkerk Outer Church), a simple white buUding with tall windows and a typical old Dutch interior. It was built for a group of Portuguesespeaking soldiery of the Company, who for a long time exercised great influence. They were called Mardijkers, derived from "merdika", meaning free, and were Christianised slaves liberated by the Portuguese after the conquest of Malacca. These Asiatic Christians were loyal supporters of the Europeans in the Indies, first of the Portuguese and afterwards of the Dutch, in whose honour the Mardijkers became Protestants. In their own Church the sermon was preached in Portuguese. Throughout the Archipelago they were the soldiers of the Company, but finaQy they were merged into the native population and disappeared. Old Batavia is still an important commercial centre, a market for tin, tea, coffee, rice, rubber and Peruvian bark; it is the headquarters of the Stock Exchange for the whole of the Indies, and a great banking centre. Here are the Java Bank, the Netherlands Escompto Company, the Netherlands India Commercial Bank and the Netherlands Trading Society ("the Factory"), now a bank rather than a trading company. English banks too have their branches in Old Batavia. A special influence in business and social life is wielded by the Chinese. In Batavia they live in a few crowded quarters, one of which is in the south of the old town. Very fine, however, are the dweUings of the wealthy Chinese merchants, grown rich in trade for which their race has a special aptitude. They are a hard working, thrifty people, inured to hardship, honest and with little criminality amongst them, and above all they are intelligent. These, with Arabs and a few Hindus, make up the list of foreign orientals in the Netherlands Indies. An interesting place is the Chinese burial ground in the west of the town on the road to Tangerang: here distinguished Chinese were, and still often are, buried in sumptuous marble mausoleums and on Tsing Bing, the Chinese All Saints' Day, flowers and sacrifices are laid upon the tombs. The Chinese show great veneration for the remains of their ancestors and any desecration of burial places is out of the question. The long unused burial place in the east, where he many Chinese who came to the Indies before the first white man set foot on these shores, may be a wilderness, but it must remain undefiled and no buildings, old or new, have encroached on these sacred places. South of the Buiten Nieuwpoortstraat extends the Molenvliet, no longer a millstream but a highroad for fast traffic, forming the link between old and new Batavia. Flats have replaced the old country houses of the i8th century. Only the Records Office and the Court of Chancery still occupy one of these ancient country seats. From Coen's town we now come to that of Daendels and Raffles, from the town of canals to the town of parks, into the residential and shopping quarters of N^rdwijk, Rijswijk and Weltevreden with the "Harmonie" Ztu^00^* aub8' l0ng t**™*^ and with the most upTdate hotels, theatres and picture palaces. Weltevreden ia the goyernment quarter. Here, wide andsohtary liesthe Komngsplem . «m^dan» of no less than a kilometre square which DaendS p.ctured to hunself as a sort of Champs de Mars. On the sides of th s square are situated the Palace of the Governor General, the WüWerk and the Museum of the Batavian Society. The latter buudrngismShè SS&rfin^T?" -°tiety ,for Promotion of Arts SS the"who? aJP i h^ 811 ethn°8«Phic collection covering toe whole Archipelago: archaelogical finds, ancient Javanese art a h brary of eastern manuscripts and innumerable cosdy objects such Jd* t7.ur«° the former princely house of Lombok, ^tui^ Slaan connects Koningsplein and the Waterloonlein • on the latter ,s a monument commemorating the batde of WaSKd statues to Coen and to General Michiels, victor in the Padu War in Su matra. Many of the Ckivernment buildings are near byTSë Deparunent of Fmance the meeting hall of the People's Council and toe Office^the Councd oflndia, toe college of the "Edeleeren" (their EniYnences) an advisory body to the Governor General, where the portrahs hang of aU theGovernor Generals of the Netherlands Indies. g The Southern part of Batavia is the garrison town of Meester Cornelis BUITENZORG calleTfiol0 ^"P-^^try.at the foot of the mountains hes Buitenzorg called Bogor by the natives. This is where the Governor General usuaTfv Sal'GUmf" *■ 8rOUnd8 °f WhicH *« wSSTbo! Very impressive is the drive through which one enters these Garden*, high overhead vaulted like a church roof and as tall, arch the g L?clarv' agnculture in these parts are grown, plant diseases are studied and useful experiments are made. There is also a mountain garden47sofeet(i45ometres) above sealevelatTjibodas, ontheslopes of the Gedeh, where the flora of the higher regions are studied, and this garden borders on jungle extending to the mountain crater.The Jungle is toremain an unviolated stretch of natural country. The laboratories, museums and library belonging to this Institution, attract hundreds of students who come here to pursue their botanica! researches XII GLIMPSES OF JAVA AND BALI JAVA Stand ui the Koiungsplein and see the suinrnits of Salak and Gedeh blue with the haze of distance. Perhaps the sight of these far off mysterious peaks may wake the "wanderlust" in you: if so, the K.N.I.L.M. (Royal Netherlands Indian Airways), sister Company of the K.L.M will take you into the air above Java. There is the daily K.N.I.L.M. connection between Batavia and Surabaja via Semarang, a journey free from dust and heat, a trip which would take you fourteen hours by nul; the short section Batavia—Bandung is flown several times a day These air services are not only important in themselves, but also because they provide connections with train and boat. The plane leaving Bandung m the morning connects with the one flying to Surabaja, where again there is a tram connection for the extreme east of Java. Besides, thereisan excellent week-end connection with Bah; every Thursday one can be in Surabaja m tune for the K.P.M. (Royal Packet Navigation Cy.) boat to Lady Deborah Hackett Moulden, who made a flight from Australia to London in the Dutch plane, which won the handicap race to Melbourne: Thia flight has been the most wonderful trip of my life. I have been round the world many times, in all sorts of ways, but never have I flown over the top of the world. J. H. Marsman, President of firm Marsman & Co, Manilla. Just completed most enjoyable trip. Congratulations your maintenance excellent service best future (telegram). Sir Darcy Lindsay. In conclusion I would say that I much enjoyed the wonderful erperience of the long flight and the ever changing scènes, and I arrived very fit. Lady Louis Mountbatten. I have travelled fairly extensively by land, sea and air, but I have never had any journeys made more comfortable and pleasant. ROYAL DUTCH AIR LINES ROUTEMAP: AMSTERDAM - BATAVIA SCALE 1 : 5 000 000 _J NEPAj CONSUMPTION A Fokker/Douglas machine requires for one trip to the Netherlands Indies 18.500litres (4070 gallons) of Shell Ethyl Aviation Gasoline, 350 litres (77 gallons) of AeroShell Heavy oil and 3 kilogrammes (7 Ibs.) of Shell Rocker Arm Grease Soft. -The pyramid of drums shown on the opposite page furnishes a clear picture of those quantities which the Shell Company have to provide for the twice-weekly K.L.M. Amsterdam - Batavia Service, four times a week. SHELL SERVICE FOR SPECIAL FLIGHTS LEFT: The K.L.M.'s aircraft PH - AIP "Pelikaan", famous for her rapid Christmas flight Amsterdam-Batavia and back in 1933 receives specially quick Shell service in Calcutta in order to avoid the approaching bad weather. RIGHT: Extra fuel tanks were fitted in the K.L.M.'s aircraft PH-AIS "Snip", in order to enable her to take sufficiënt Shell Ethyl Aviation Gasoline on board to make the transatlantic crossing on her flight from Amsterdam to Curacao in December 1934. O 25 50 75 1O0 SCALE 1 :5.000.000 h ' ■ ' ' -i~ 300 K.M ALLAHABAD - CALCUTTA — JAKALPUS RAJGANj O 4