Boundary between Malay and Sunda Idioms. 211 



coffee-bean, and the indigo, all flourish in wildest profusion, 

 and the various warehouses are as crammed witli the splendid 

 produce of these valuable colonial staples as our northern 

 granaries are with the necessaries of subsistence in the shape 

 of dried fruits.* 



Quite close to Pondok-Gedeh, amid the majestic mountain 

 scenery of Gadok, is the maison de SanU of Dr. Steenstra 

 Toussaint, which enjoys a well-earned reputation under the 

 management of Dr. Bernstein, a German physician and na- 

 turalist. Invalid residents of the coast, when recovering fi'om 

 climatic diseases, make a point of hurrying to this institution, 

 in order to benefit by the keen, bracing mountain air. Dr. 

 Bernstein is, as far as his professional engagements will 

 admit, at once a zealous collector, and a skilful preparer, 

 who has already made some very beautiful collections, and 

 who, if he stay here any length of time, will be in a position 

 to enrich considerably the museums of natural history in 

 Europe, with numerous rare and valuable specimens. 



Just at the summit of the pass of Megamendoeng (dark 

 cloud), begin the Preanger Regencies. This pass moreover 

 forms a boundary line between the Malay language, chiefly 

 used for commercial transactions along the coast, and that of 

 ^unda, the difference between which two idioms, as regards 

 the uninformed stranger is only so far important, that in 



* Two Vanilla plants, imported in 1841 from the Botanical Garden of Leyden, 

 remained barren for nine years, till recourse was at last had to the system of artificial 

 fructification, upon which these plants increased so rapidly that the plants at 

 present under cultivation at Pondok-Gedeh amount to 700,000 ! 



P 2 



