172 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



side of the watershed, offers a totally different aspect, 

 and is thus described by the same writer : — " The 

 appearance of Mandeling is as varied and luxuriant as 

 that of Pertibi is monotonous and arid. To the south 

 are high and naked mountains, over which the lalang 

 grass again spreads its monotonous mantle. Here hamlets 

 and cultivated tracts appear, stuck on frightful steeps, 

 where unfruitfulness and poverty have established their 

 hungry seat. The northern Ankola valley also presents 

 some dry and desert places like those of Padang-luwas. 

 But for the rest, the district consists of one chain of 

 beautiful valleys hemming the banks of the Batang-gadis 

 (Virgin Eiver), which runs between the central mountains 

 of Sumatra. These valleys, like the river itself, become 

 wider and wider as we proceed to the north and west. 

 The high chains of mountains are covered to their sum- 

 mits with stately forests, which afford abundance of good 

 timber and other valuable products. On the lower 

 mountains, too, are woods here and there, and these are 

 commonly adorned with the wine-yielding Areng palm 

 {Saguerus saccharifcrus). Here we see well-watered rice- 

 fields, which, in small valleys like amphitheatres, climb 

 up a considerable portion of the acclivities, and, in the 

 distance, extend to an invisible boundary. Nowhere does 

 the landscape weary. The eye rests constantly on orna- 

 mental groups of bamboos and various trees, or on the 

 small clumps of fruit-trees in which the villages lie con- 

 cealed, their position being especially marked by the 

 abundance of coco and areca palms. Towards evening 

 we observe near the villages numerous herds of buffaloes, 

 oxen, and goats ; while men, well fed and well clothed, 

 and, what is more, a superabundance of children, prove 

 that in this favoured region the greatest prosperity has 

 reigned for some years." 



