February 6th.—­A fine morning, and we are going through the Gaspar Strait in about 2 deg. 30’ south, not very far from where Lord Amherst was wrecked in the ‘Alceste.’  We anchored again last night, but in a calm.  Yesterday morning Neptune made his appearance, and those of us who had not passed the Line had to pay the penalty.  I compounded for his claims on me, and the crew had a good lark in shaving with tar and ducking some other novices.  We are now in mid-summer, having passed at a bound from mid-winter.  There is little difference, however, in these latitudes, between one part of the year and another.  The principal difference consists in the rainy and dry seasons, and as near the Line as this there is, I suppose, always more or less rain. Two P.M.—­I went on deck this morning at eight, after writing, to discover why we were stopping, and I found that a squall had closed in all around us, and hid the land.  It lasted only about an hour, when we set off again, passing through a great many little islets all covered with trees, so different from the barren Pulo Sapata and Pulo Condor, which we pass on the route between Singapore and Hong-Kong!  The weather is delicious, and I am confirmed in my doctrine, that if you are compelled to be in or in the vicinity of the Tropics, the nearer the Line the better.  You have not the interminably long summer days which you have at more remote points, and constant showers veil the sun and cool the air.  This makes Singapore comparatively so bearable, and I suppose Sarawak has some of the same advantages.

[Sidenote:  Java.] [Sidenote:  Residence of the Governor-General.]

Java.—­February 8th.  Three P.M.—­Here I am looking out from my window upon a piece of park-like scenery,—­a sheet of water, drooping trees, and deer feeding among them.  The only drawback is that it is raining, and this is not an unqualified evil, because the rain cools the air.  The place I am at is the residence of the Governor-General of Java (or of the Indies, I believe his title is), about forty miles from Batavia, the chief town, at which I landed yesterday, at 5 P.M., with much honour in the way of salutes, &c.  We were conveyed in carriages-and-six, with an escort, to the Governor’s town palace, which I was told to consider placed at my disposal.  It consists chiefly of a very spacious room on the ground-floor, paved in marble, and looking very brilliant, lit up with wax candles in chandeliers.  Some of the high officials came to dinner, and we were waited on by black servants in state liveries and bare feet, who moved noiselessly over the marble floor.  The original town of Batavia is unhealthy for Europeans, so they live in villas which extend from the town for some miles, on both sides of the main road into the interior.  The villas looked very nice, and white women seemed to abound in them.  It was hinted to me that the Governor-General would like to see me at his residence,