chap, vii.] TERRACED HILLS. 175 



On leaving Buitenzorg, I had coolies to carry my 

 baggage and a horse for myself, -both to be changed every 

 six or seven miles. The road rose gradually, and after the 

 first stage the hills closed in a little on each side, forming 

 a broad valley ; and the temperature was so cool and 

 agreeable, and the country so interesting, that I preferred 

 walking. Native villages imbedded in fruit trees, and 

 pretty villas inhabited by planters or retired Dutch 

 officials, gave this district a very pleasing and civilized 

 aspect ; but what most attracted my attention was the 

 system of terrace-cultivation, which is here universally 

 adopted, and which is, I should think, hardly equalled in 

 the world. The slopes of the main valley, and of its 

 branches, were everywhere cut in terraces up to a con- 

 siderable height, and when they wound round the recesses 

 of the hills produced all the effect of magnificent amphi- 

 theatres. Hundreds of square miles of country are thus 

 terraced, and convey a striking idea of the industry of the 

 people and the antiquity of their civilization. These 

 terraces are extended year by year as the population 

 increases, by the inhabitants of each village working in 

 concert under the direction of their chiefs ; and it is 

 perhaps by this system of village culture alone, that such 

 extensive terracing and irrigation has been rendered pos- 

 sible. It was probably introduced by the Brahmins from 

 India, since in those Malay countries where there is no 

 trace of a previous occupation by a civilized people, the 



