XXII
"TJILATJAP," "CHALACHAP," "CHELACHAP"
"
JILATJAP! Tjilatjap!" Often as one may sound those syllables aloud, they seem absurd; and the very idea of spending the night in a town of such name, of buying a railway ticket with that name printed on it, and asking to have one's luggage labeled to that destination, was enough to tickle the fancy. Could there be solemn men and serious women living there? and had the station a sign-board? and could the pale, grave little Dutch children keep their faces straight and glibly pronounce the name of that town without sneezing?
Whether it is printed "Tjilatjap," "Chalachap," or "Chelachap," it at once suggests enough puns to spare one printing them, and surely no town on the north side of the equator could support such a name with any dignity.
But Tjilatjap is one of the oldest foreign settlements in Java, the one good harbor on the whole south coast; and the "Tjilatjap fever" is a distinguished specialty of the region that surpasses all the deadly forms of fever
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