414 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



On our way we crossed several long, covered 

 bridges, one of wliicli was so low and our horse so 

 unmanageable, tliat we came near losing tlie top of 

 our carriage before we could tlirow it back. Two or 

 three of them were so bent down in the middle by 

 only a buffalo and a native occasionally crossing them, 

 that I was unwilling to risk myself in the can'iage, 

 and jmnped out and crossed them on foot. One 

 vibrated up and do^^^l in such a manner that I 

 certainly expected at the next moment I should 

 see the inspector, horse, bridge, and all, in the midst 

 of the stream below. This stream begins at Lubu 

 Sikeping, and, after flowing northwest to Rau, where 

 it is called Sumpur, it curves to the northeast, and, 

 receiving tributaries during its course, flows on till it 

 empties into the Strait of Malacca. The coffee raised 

 in this valley is transported inpadatis from Lunda, a 

 small village south of this place, over a high, difficult 

 way to Ayar Bangis, on the west coast. Sometimes 

 a hot simoom sweeps up the valley from the south, 

 parching up the vegetation and causing a severe ill- 

 ness to those foreigners who are exposed to it. The 

 mountains here are much lower on the east than on 

 the west, and, as there are no deep clefts in the Bari- 

 zan chain here, as in the Menangkabau country, the 

 Sumpur is obliged to find its outlet to the east. 



The soil here is not as fertile as farther to the 

 north, where it is somewhat higher, the elevation of 

 this point being only one thousand feet. Here we 

 see the benefit of the transverse ranges that connect 

 the Barizan to its parallel chain. At Bondyol, in 

 the next valley to the south, where we were yester- 



