IN THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. 167 



The road towards the high plateau of my destination rose at a 

 steep incline, and with the rain that had recently fallen was 

 horribly slippery ; but the worst road has always something to 

 brighten it, for where it approached or rose above 2000 feet I 

 was gratified by finding broad fields of brightly coloured 

 purple, yellow and white balsams, and close to the edge of the 

 path many low herbaceous Cyrtandrem, a family with chaste 

 foliage and flowers; tall terrestrial orchids of numerous 

 sorts, and many species of ferns. At dark we entered the 

 village of Batu-brah, and I found ready for me, as the news of 

 my coming had preceded me, a royal — compared with my late 

 experiences — sleeping apartment in the Balai, ^^ith a table 

 groaning under a load of fruits. 



In the morning I was agreeably surprised by finding myself 

 in a village of a character quite different from any that I had 

 yet visited in Sumatra. The houses were high, large, and 

 substantially built of planks raised for five or six feet on im- 

 mense pillars formed of the largest trees of the forest, with 

 pyramidal roofs, surrounded by an elegant i-amshorn-Iike 

 ornament universally used in the district, cut out of pumice 

 blocks or of tree-fern roots, .with a piece of mirror or a bright 

 stone let into it to glitter in the sun. I did not camp here, 

 but continued to Kenali, the capital of the marga, a large and 

 very old village some miles eastward. Both sides of the road 

 were fully cultivated with coffee, rice, but principally tobacco, 

 for which this region of Sumatra is famed. Indian corn is 

 also grown in considerable quantity, along with European and 

 sweet potatoes and cabbages of excellent quality. 



On our way we crossed a small tributary of the Semangka, 

 which, at a little distance below the ford, narrowing from a 

 river of thirty yards to one of a yiird or a yard and a-half 

 wide, dashed itself into a frothy torrent down a narrow rocky 

 gorge in a series of falls for about 100 feet into the main river. 

 The falls reminded me of those of the Clyde at Stonebyres ; 

 they are more picturesque, but less imposing from the diffi- 

 culty of viewing them from below where the cascade plunges 

 into the main river. The road from Batu-brah to Kenali runs 

 alotig a high plateau of about 3000 feet above the sea, extend- 

 ing between the Barisan range and the volcanoes of Besagi 

 and Sekindjau, and is composed of mingled clay and a sandy 



