258 LOMBOCK. [chap. xi. 



of mountains of which Lombock peak, eight thousand feet 

 high, is the culminating point, formed a fit background 

 to a view scarcely to be surpassed either in human interest 

 or picturesque beauty. 



Along the first part of our road we passed hundreds of 

 women carrying rice, fruit, and vegetables to market ; and 

 further on an almost uninterrupted line of horses laden 

 with rice in bags or in the ear, on their way to the port of 

 Ampanam. At every few miles along the road, seated 

 under shady trees or slight sheds, were sellers of sugar- 

 cane, palm-wine, cooked rice, salted eggs, and fried plan- 

 tains, with a few other native delicacies. At these stalls 

 a hearty meal may be made for a penny, but we contented 

 ourselves with drinking some sweet palm-wine, a most 

 delicious beverage in the heat of the day. After having 

 travelled about twenty miles we reached a higher and drier 

 region, where, water being scarce, cultivation was confined 

 to the little flats bordering the streams. Here the country 

 was as beautiful as before, but of a different character ; con- 

 sisting of undulating downs of short turf interspersed with 

 fine clumps of trees and bushes, sometimes the woodland, 

 sometimes the open ground predominating. We only 

 passed through one small patch of true forest, where we 

 were shaded by lofty trees and saw around us a dark and 

 dense vegetation, highly agreeable after the heat and glare 

 of the open country. 



