CHAPTER XVI. 



CROSSING SUMATEA. 



April l^tli. — Took tlie steamer at Padang for 

 Bencoolen. Nearly all the way we had a liea\^ wind 

 from the southeast, though the southeastern monsoon 

 has not yet begun in the Java Sea. The western 

 limit of this monsoon region, I judge, after many in- 

 quiries, may be considered to be the Cape of Indi'a- 

 pura, but both monsoon winds prevail occasionally as 

 far north as Padang. Farther north the winds are 

 constantly variable. At TajDanuli Bay I was in- 

 formed that heavy "northers" occasionally prevail 

 for several days ; and I was earnestly ad\T.sed not to 

 go off to the adjacent island of Mensalla in a ship's 

 boat, though the sea was calm for two or three days 

 at a time. 



April ISth. — At 2 p. m. we entered Bencoolen Bay. 

 It is an open roadstead, and the swell raised by the 

 steady southeast trades of the Indian Ocean rolls in 

 and breaks for the first time on the shore, there 

 being no chain of islands to the seaward to protect 

 this part of the coast, as there is farther north. We 

 were able, however, to anchor in the bay off the city. 

 Landing here is difficult, on account of the surf, and 



