502 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



its course, is only a small stream with slight falls at 

 short distances. The valley south of Kopaiyong 

 may be quite wide, but we soon passed into such a 

 dense jungle that I was unable to obtain any view 

 of the mountains on either hand. Kaban Agong is 

 a small kampong of twenty or twenty-five houses, 

 and, except the two or three occasionally seen near 

 each other in the cleared places, or ladangs, the 

 whole country is an unbroken wilderness. 



The houses of the village were quite regularly 

 arranged in two rows, and in the middle of the street 

 between them is a small circular house, with oj^en 

 sides, and seats around it for the coolies, who are 

 travelling to and fro, to stop and rest under a shelter 

 from the sunshine. Here the rajah received me, and 

 brought such fruits as his people raised. The coolie, 

 who marched beside my horse, canied my Spencer's 

 breech-loader, which I had been careful to have 

 ready loaded and capped. It caused the natives to 

 manifest the greatest respect for us, especially when 

 my servants declared that I needed only to put it to 

 my shoulder, pull the trigger, and there would be a 

 constant stream of bullets. From Kaban Agong to 

 Tanjong Agong (eight paals) we passed over a more 

 open and hilly country. The road here diverged 

 from the left bank of the Musi, and took a more east- 

 erly course. Here more sawas appeared, but the 

 people are in great poverty. Many of the hills are 

 covered with the common rank prairie-grass, which 

 we saw covering large areas in the northwest part 

 of the Mandeling Valley, and in many other places. 



In such open prairies the sun poured down a most 



