Report of a Journey Around the World. 



179 



an exhilarating ride at that elevation, and we were sorry when it 

 had to end in a rather steep and rather crooked path (Fig. 136) 

 leading to the steps of concrete, 252 in number, that Count Henry 

 of Mecklinburg has had built for the accommodation of pilgrims 

 and visitors of other faiths. It should be stated here that the region 

 around the Tengger craters is occupied by the most heathen of the 

 inhabitants of Java, and travelers often note the independent and 

 often surly manners of these Tenggerese. They worship the god 



136. TRAIL PROM ZEE TO BROMO. 



of the volcano, making annual pilgrimages to the brink of Bromo 

 and casting in offerings (we saw some of these in the shape of 

 small coin that had lodged in the ridges of the funnel below us as 

 we stood on the very narrow rim of the crater (Fig. 137). They 

 may make pilgrimages at other times, but I confess to an ignorance 

 at present of their worship in its details. Only the annual affair 

 is a matter of the greatest importance, lasting some days of encamp- 

 ment in the Zand zee. We had no occasion to complain of these 

 people, although we saw a marked difference from the smiling 

 Javanese in their rugged and not attractive countenances. 



To return to Bromo, on whose brink we have been standing, 

 looking at the ribbed walls of the funnel and wishing we might 



T327] 



