CH. IX JOVBNEY THROUGH MINAHA8SA 221 



lovely lake into a gigantic Dutch polder is enough to give 

 the EngUsh traveller a shock. It may be that, when a 

 Dutchman visits for the first time a great expanse of 

 inland water such as this, his national emotions overcome 

 him, and he thinks unconsciously of a plan to drain the 

 water off, and intersect it with rectangular dykes and 

 ditches, and pictures to himself a score or more of green 

 and white windmills, ever pumping water in or out, and 

 a floating population of bargees, armed with long punting- 

 poles. Whatever may be the feelings of the traveller, 

 however, the resident Dutchmen of Celebes are proud of 

 their Lake Tondano ; they love its calm peaceful waters and 

 the panorama of the surrounding hills and mountains of 

 unrivalled beauty and luxuriance, and they hke to spend 

 their hohdays in the cool invigorating climate of its shores, 

 and rest awhile from the cares and worries of official duties 

 in the tropical heat of Manado in a region where everything 

 speaks of peace and contentment. We may safely predict 

 then that Lake Tondano wUl remain ' a thing of beauty ' 

 for many generations yet to come, and we may add a fervent 

 hope that it may remain to Dutchmen a 'joy for ever.' 



Three kinds of fishes are commonly caught in Lake 

 Tondano. The kebos {Ophiocephalus striatus) sometimes 

 reaches a length of two feet. It is characterised by pos- 

 sessing a covering of large scales over its head and by 

 remarkably long pointed dorsal and anal fins ; the betok, 

 here called geteh-geteh, is the weU-known chmbing perch 

 {Anabas scandens) ; and there is also a species of eel (AnguiUa 

 Elphinstonei) . All of these fishes are very generally dis- 

 tributed over the East Indies. 



In many parts of the Tondano river the large prawns 

 previously mentioned as occurring in Talisse are found, 

 but I have no certain information that they occur in the 

 river above the Tonsea lama falls. 



