EXPERIENCES IN SUMATRA. 297 



were impressed by the methods of astronomers who rolled up their 

 sleeves and did all kinds of manual labor themselves. 



The traveler who sets foot in Netherlands India must, within 

 three days of his landing, procure a permit to remain or travel in the 

 country. No charge is made for issuing these ' toelatingskaarten,' but 

 they are made out on government stamped paper, and a guilder and 

 a half collected for the stamp. Upon arriving at a hotel the guest 

 must give a complete account of himself and his movements in a 

 register which is examined every few days by a government official — 

 the resident or assistant resident. Through this means the move- 

 ments of every traveler, Dutch or foreign, become known to the gov- 

 ernment. This elaborate and cumbersome system of espionage can 

 not but discourage all except those having urgent business from visit- 

 ing this interesting corner of the world. 



Padang is the capital and principal city of Sumatra. Padang is 

 the native word for plain. It was applied originally to the level 

 stretch of sandy country in which the city is located. The oldest 

 part of the city, the business section, lies along the north bank of a 

 small river, where the native prahus with their cargoes of coffee, rice, 

 spices, etc., from up and down the coast, lie securely sheltered by a 

 high promontory (the Appenberg) across the river to the south. Only 

 the barest ridge of sand, which has been raised by the surf, separates 

 the city from the Indian Ocean. As the tropical seas are ordinarily 

 calm, a murmur is all that usually finds its way to the ears of the 

 inhabitants. To the east rise the steep, heavily wooded slopes of the 

 Barisan range, a dense, greenish black chain from three to five thou- 

 sand feet in altitude. A wild inhospitable region of tropical jungle 

 it looks and is. In the early morning the sky is often clear, and the 

 mountains free from clouds. At such times the symmetrical cone of 

 the extinct Talang, further inland, is clearly visible. To the north 

 the Singalang and Tandikat, and the Merapi with its plume of smoke, 

 raise their green slopes against the sky. 



In Padang are the home of the governor, the government officers, 

 the headquarters of the army and the Staatsspoorweg or government 

 railway. Here also are located the government warehouses, and a 

 branch of the Java Bank, the government banking institution of the 

 colonies. Padang is the center of the coffee trade of Sumatra. Most 

 of the plantations, both government and private, are near the central 

 portion of the island, the crops coming to this point for sale and 

 shipment. 



Although the city contains a population of over thirty thousand 

 people, it is difficult to realize the fact; for, situated in a grove of 

 cocoanut trees, it is almost entirely hidden from view. There are 

 about 2,000 Europeans, practically all Dutch, and 5,000 Chinese; the 



