352 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



most useful plant. Tlie custom of these people to 

 sing while working in the field is the more notice- 

 able, because the Javanese and Malays usually toil 

 without thinking of thus lightening their monoto- 

 nous labor. Upward and upward we climbed until 

 we were about three thousand feet above the sea, 

 when we came to two small villages. Beyond, the 

 road again became level, and soon we reached To- 

 mohon, where I met the controleur from Tondano, 

 a large village to the east, who had come at the 

 Resident's request to accompany me for the rest 

 of that day's joui'ney. Another horse was brought 

 and saddled for me, and we continued on toward the 

 south, our party now numbering six or eight, for the 

 chief of each village and one or two servants are 

 obliged by law to accompany the controleur from 

 their own village to the next one he comes to, in 

 whatever direction he may choose to travel. We 

 soon after entered the charming village of Saronsong. 

 In the centre of it and on one side of the street is the 

 chiefs house, and opposite to it but back from the 

 street is the ruma negri, and the space between the 

 two is a pretty garden abounding in roses. This 

 reminder of home gave me a thrill of pleasure that I 

 shall remember as long as I love to look on this, the 

 most beautiful of all flowers. As we galloped out 

 of this village the thick rain-clouds and fog cleared 

 away, and only cumuli and cirri were again to be 

 seen in the sky. I now had a magnificent view, on 

 the left, of the high range along the west side of lake 

 Tondano, toward the northwest of the sharj) vol- 

 canic cone of Lohon, about five thousand feet in 



