386 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



here the barges take in their cargoes. This part of 

 the city is chiefly filled with the storehouses and 

 offices of the merchants. In front of the governor's 

 residence is a large common. Two of its sides are oc- 

 cupied by private residences and the church, the roof 

 of which has fallen in, and indeed the whole structure 

 is in a most dilapidated condition compared to the rich 

 Club-House on the other side of the green. Having 

 landed and taken up my quarters at a hotel, I called 

 on Governor Van den Bosche, who received me polite- 

 ly, and said that the inspector of posts, Mr. Theben 

 Terville, whose duty it is not only to care for trans- 

 porting the mails, but also to supervise and lay out 

 the post-roads, had just arrived from Java, and must 

 make an overland journey to Siboga, in order to exam- 

 ine a route that had been proposed for a post-road 

 to that place. 



He had promised the inspector, wko was an old 

 gentleman, the use of his " American," a light four- 

 wheeled carriage made in Boston. There was room 

 for two in it, and he would propose to the inspector 

 to take me with him, and further provide me with 

 letters to the chief officials along the way ; but as it 

 would be two or three days before Mr. Terville, who 

 was then in the interior, would be ready to start, he 

 proposed that I should leave the hotel and make 

 my home with him as long as I might remain in 

 Padang. " Besides," he added, " I have eight good 

 carriage-horses in the stable, and I have so much 

 writing to do that they are spoiling for want of exer- 

 cise; now, if you will come, you can ride whenever 

 you please." So again I found myself in the full tide 



