CAXOxpi. 397 



having some foreign substance tbrnst tliroiigli, and 

 dangling from, each, ear — still prevails. 



After we had rested from our ride, the Resident 

 took us through the adjoining kampong. The houses 

 were like those already described in the Cleft. Our 

 attention was particularly drawn to the magnificent 

 bamboos by the roadside, many of which attain a 

 height of forty or fifty feet. 



February 2^th. — The inspector, having travelled 

 for some time, prefers to rest to-day, and as I am 

 anxious to see the lake of Manindyu, which is some 

 distance off our route, I avail myself of the oppor- 

 tunity. The Resident kindly gave me a very fine 

 saddle-horse, and early this morning we started in 

 a northwesterly direction for Matua. Our path at 

 once led down from the high plateau into a series of 

 deep valleys with perpendicular sides, composed of 

 stratified sand and clay, foiTued by the disintegration 

 and decomposition of pumice-stone. These deep val- 

 leys have been wholly foimed by the action of the 

 rapid streams which flow in their bottoms, and which, 

 by changing their courses from one side of the valley 

 to the other, have carried aAvay the talus that has 

 formed at the bases of the clifts. These cliffs, there- 

 fore, are perpendicular, whether the valleys be wide 

 or narrow. The strata of the sand and clay are so 

 horizontal that we are warranted in considerino; them 

 deposited in a lake of fresh or salt water. No fos- 

 sils of any kind, so far as I can learn, have ever been 

 seen in these late deposits, to determine whether 

 they are of lacustrine or marine origin. The upper 

 edges of the sides of these deep valleys are so sharjily 



