SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 49 



of recent origin. Early next morning the party pro- 

 ceeded to the capital, which we shall notice in the 

 narrator's own words. " In approaching Pageru- 

 yong, we had an excellent view of this once famous 

 city. It is built at the foot, and partly on the slope 

 of a steep and rugged hill, called Gunung Bongso, so 

 memorable for its appearance, and the three peaks 

 it exhibits. Below the town, under a precipice of 

 from fifty to a hundred feet, in some parts nearly 

 perpendicular, winds the beautiful stream of Selo, 

 which pursuing its course, passes Saruasa, where it 

 takes the name of the Golden River, and finally falls 

 into the Indragiri. In front of the city rises the 

 mountain Berapi, the summit of which may be about 

 twenty miles distant. It is on the slopes of this 

 mountain that the principal population is settled , 

 the whole side of the mountain, for about fifteen miles 

 from Pageruyong in every direction, being covered 

 with villages and rice fields. The entrance to the 

 city, which is now only marked by a few venerable 

 trees, and the traces of what was once a highway, is 

 nearly three quarters of a mile before we come to 

 the Bali and site of the former palace. Here, little 

 is left save the noble Wagarin trees, and these appear, 

 iii several instances, to have suffered from the action 

 of fire. Scarcely the appearance of a hut is to be 

 seen ; the large flat stone, however, on which the 

 Sultan used to sit on days of public ceremony, was 

 pointed out to us ; and when the weeds had been 

 partially cleared, the royal burial ground was disco- 



YOL. VTII. 



