106 A NATUSALIsrS WANDERINGS 



^ 



next station. By and by the ascent became steeper, and our 

 team had to be augmented by the addition of a buffalo in 

 front of our horses ; further up a second was added, till at last 

 the equine was altogether discarded for the bovine element. 



Under the soothing evenness of their progress I might have 

 dropped into a pleasant doze ; but the night was so beautiful 

 that I preferred to enjoy the picturesque effect produced by 

 the light of the torches on our team and their drivers — who 

 w^ere dressed in short red trousers, deep yellow jackets, and 

 their tartan sarongs thrown sash-wise across their shoulders, 

 and wore immense hats more than two feet in diameter; and 

 to lose none of the charm of the bright starlit night and the 

 fire-flies that illuminated with their fitful li«:ht the borders 

 of the forest tliroiigh which we were ascending whose low moan 

 was the only sound that brolce the stillness of the night, for 

 the driver had coiled himself up as best he could, and was fast 

 asleep, and the buffalo-boys walked like mutes at a funeral. 



At about midnight we reached the summit of the pass, where 

 it was so cold that I was glad to crouch by the fire of a small hut 

 there, w^hile the buffaloes were being changed. The place of 

 the oxen was now taken by a single horse, which, urged at a 

 pace more swift than safe, carried us down the mountain side 

 into a Avarmer region in a very short time. The up-hill seat 

 might have been more comfortable ; but the down-hill ride 

 was interspersed with practical lessons in dynamics which 

 rather tended to disagree with the general quiet order of one's 

 internal arrangements, yet the sensation of being whirled 

 along at such a rapid speed was full of exhilaration and great 

 pleasure. At 3 a.m. we pulled up at our half-way house— 

 the post-office at Tjandjoor— where I was checked off with the 

 rest of the baggage which had been consigned to the driver at 

 Buitenzorg, re-booked for tlie remainder of the journey, and 



his destination. 



red at 



Bejond Tjandjoor the road passed through a more level 

 country, leading to the deep valley of the Tjitaroom. As 

 there was no bridge over the ravine we were, on arriving at 

 the near bank, assisted to alight by what seemed a regiment 

 i of walking torches, and with cart and horses transported on a 

 bamboo raft to the further side, where two buffalo friends were 



