A SIMPLE MEAL. 4.75 



point. In all particulars these wheels are exactly 

 like those used in China for the same purpose, and 

 perhaps were introduced by immigrants or merchants 

 from that land. We crossed the foaming Ombiling 

 on a bridge near where the lake pours out its surplus 

 water down a ravine and forms that stream. Before 

 the Dutch came up into this region the natives had 

 made a suspension bridge here, near Samawang, simi- 

 lar to the one I crossed over the Batang Taroh. Gov- 

 ernor Raffles has described it in his memoirs, and has 

 also noticed the water-wheels just described, so that 

 they must have been in use for a long time, and could 

 not have been introduced by Europeans nor by the 

 Chinamen who have established themselves at the 

 principal places in this region since it became subject 

 to the Dutch. 



Mid-day was passed when I reached the kampong 

 of Samawang, near the bridge, and I was so worn out 

 with my long walk over the mountains and fording 

 the swollen streams, that I was glad to crawl into a 

 little dirty hut and beg an old Malay woman to cook 

 me a little rice, for I had yet ten miles farther to go, 

 and pouring showers frequently came over the lake. 

 My repast consisted of rice, a smoked fish, a few 

 grains of coarse salt and some red pepper ground up 

 together between two flat stones. As I satisfied my 

 hunger, I could but contrast my simple meal with the 

 royal feasts I had been taking with the governor at his 

 residence at Padang less than a week before, but, as 

 Shakespeare says, " Hunger is the best sauce," and 

 1 enjoyed my hard fare more than many pampered 

 princes do the choicest viands. From this place there 



