The business quarter, like the "city" in London, is thronged with merchants and carriages, carts and coolies, and all the machinery of commerce, in the daytime, and entirely deserted at night. The merchants keep their offices open from nine till five, and, in spite of the great heat, work all through the day, with the exception of an hour or so for "tiffin." By this arrangement the early morning and late afternoon, the only time when open-air exercise is possible, is left available for riding or walking. In spite of the romantic exterior of the place, Batavia is not ill-supplied with modern improvements. The tramway system, in which smoke and heat are avoided by the use of a central boiler from which steam is taken for the different locomotives, is especially well suited to the requirements of the climate. The telephone, again, is in constant use both in offices and private houses, although the confusion of languages--Malay, Dutch, and English--makes it a little difficult sometimes to work it. I remember once asking the landlord of the Hôtel der Nederlanden to telephone to a man in the town that I was intending to go to Buitenzorg on the following morning, and the terrible difficulty I had to get him to convey my name to the clerk at the other end. After ringing up the central office (which is worked by Malays) and getting the connection he wanted, he said-- "Mr. X----?" "No." "Mr. X---- is not there" (to me). "All right," I said; "tell the clerk to tell Mr. X----" But the telephone was now shut off, and the process of connecting had to be gone through again. "Tell Mr. X---- What is your name?" "Worsfold," I said. "Versfolt?" "Yes." "Tell Mr. X---- that Mynheer Versfolt----" "Who?" (from the other end). "Mynheer Versfolt." "Who?" "Versfolt." "Who?" "How you spell it?" (to me). I spelt it. "Mynheer V-e-a-s-f-o-l-t. Veasfolt, _Veasfolt_, VEASFOLT." Here he appealed to a Dutch gentleman who could speak English, and wrote down the name, W-o-r-s-f-o-l-d. "Tell Mr. X---- that Mynheer---- Listen, I will spell it--W-o-r," etc. "Oh, never mind; tell him that the Englishman is going to Buitenzorg to-morrow." "The English gentleman is going to Buitenzorg to-morrow." "What Englishman?" "Mynheer Veasfolt." "Who?" "Mynheer Veasfold. I will spell it--W-o-r," etc. "Yes; what about him?" "Tell Mr. X---- that Mynheer Veasfolt----" "Who?" "Oh, never mind," I said; "Mr. X---- will understand." But the polite landlord was not satisfied. "It is no trouble; I will tell him." Then I went away in haste, as the process had already occupied half an hour, and I was telephoning to avoid delay. Five minutes later I passed the bureau. The landlord was still at that wretched instrument. I hurried by without daring to look up, fearing that I should be appealed to again. I dared not even ask whether the message ever reached the office or not.