Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/263

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CHERIBON.
247

men, as we did on our journey to Wonosobo.

On our arrival at Tagal, we stayed at an hotel, and proceeded next morning to Cheribon, passing over the numerous small streams between that town and Losari, the fifth post from it. We came once more in sight of the sea at Cheribon, which is situated on the coast. The harbour is considered to be one of the best on the northern side of the island. The town struck us as more like a Dutch one than any we had yet seen in Java. A drive of two miles in the country brings the traveller to the ruins of a kind of château d'eau, once the property of Sultan Adewijaya, a descendant of Sheik Maulana, an Arab adventurer, who, after subjugating the petty princes who came in his way, made himself Sultan of this province in 1480. Adewijaya, following the example of his ancestor, gained possession of Bantam, and converted all his subjects to Mahomedanism. The present Sultans of Cheribon, who are pensioners of the Dutch Govern-