252 ,IAVANP]8E VILLAGES. 



Merapi. " Tlie tree," he says, *' had nothhig deadly 

 about it, but the earth in that depressed part emitted 

 fumes of carbonic acid gas, that hovered over the 

 ground for about three feet upwards, suffocating those 

 who might He down on the earth thei'e." 



The kampongs, or villages, throughout the whole 

 route gave evidence of a thriving population ; tlie 

 bamboo cottages were neat and clean, each invariably 

 surrounded by a little garden full of plantains and 

 other fruit trees, and protected from the road by a 

 screen of split bamboo upon a low stone wall. The native 

 women of the better class, when going any distance, 

 move about in a small bamboo palki or a hammock, 

 suspended from a long pole, and carried by two coolies 

 (Plate XXIIL). Men and women dress much in the same 

 fashion, hence the anecdote of a Dutch colonel, during 

 one of his raids against the natives : having attacked a 

 detachment of Javanese Amazons, who defended them- 

 selves bravely with sticks and whatever they could lay 

 hold of for the purpose, until the mistake was cleai'ed 

 up, when a general stampede ensued. 



The country swarms with a species of swallow, whose 

 nest, built into the rock of the mountain, is much prized 

 by the epicure of the Celestial Empire. 



Long avenues of banyan and other fine trees now 

 brought us to a broad river, having more the appearance 



