Messrs. Burton and Ward's Journey into the Batak Country. 493 



The space situated between Silindung aud Toba comprises the district of 

 Butiir, an elevated and even tract of country, of which we obtained a wide 

 and agreeable prospect. It appeared to be about thirty miles long and 

 twenty broad, bounded on the north-east by Toba, on the north-west by a 

 range of lofty mountains running apparently east and west, on the south- 

 west by Silindung, and on the south-east by a broken hilly tract, extending 

 southward probably to the district of Angkola. The northern parts seemed 

 well adapted to the purposes of cultivation, and had accordingly been thus 

 appropriated to a considerable extent. The whole plain was perfectly free 

 from wood, and presented, as far as the eye could discern, a vast unbroken 

 field of verdure. On a farther examination with the telescope, it was dis- 

 covered to be thickly studded with small detaclied huts of straw, so 

 diminished by the distance as to give the idea of flocks of sheep or pieces 

 of rock scattered over its surface. To each of these was attached a field 

 or patch of mountain rice. The villages, wherever discernible, were left 

 open and without defence ; and the smoke arising at every point of view, 

 with the serenity which seemed to pervade the whole, conveyed an idea 

 of peace and security that we had seldom witnessed since we quitted our 

 native land. 



Under one of the hills on the eastern side of Siliiidung a hot spring was 

 pointed out ; but inifortunately we deferred visiting it until the evening 

 previous to our return, when it became too late to bestow on it the attention 

 which it seemed to deserve. The water bubbled up in a number of places 

 within the compass of fifty yards, and formed a rapid stream, a foot wide and 

 six inches deep. We had no thermometer with us, but on its first issuing 

 forth we judged it to be about the temperature of one hundred and eighty 

 degrees of Fahrenheit. It had deposited lime in such abundance, as to have 

 covered about an acre of land with a bed several feet thick. From this the 

 natives procure a supply to eat with the gambir leaf, calcining it in the usual 

 manner. The sirih, or betel-leaf, appears to have been but recently in- 

 troduced, the use of it being very hmited. Besides lime, the water seemed 

 to hold in solution a metal, which it deposited, in some places, of a rusty buff, 

 and in others of a green colour. Of its medicinal qualities we are unable 

 to speak, having learnt nothing farther than that the natives use it to 

 strengthen the appetite, and to obviate the inconvenience arising from an 

 overburthened stomach. 



At seven o'clock a. m. of the 11th of May we quitted Silindung, on our 



