IN SUMATRA. 193 



country. The descent and ascent were made by long difficult 

 corkscrew paths cut in the face of cliffs, that were densely 

 clothed with trees which from the steepness of the slope 

 clung close to its sides. On again gaining the level of the 

 plateau, and looking back from a little distance, the eye 

 ranged over the chasm without perceiving any trace of it. 

 This scenery recalled the descriptions I had read of the 

 singular canons of the Yellowstone River in North America. 

 At frequent intervals over all the plateau I passed tabats or 

 lakelets of various sizes, the result probably of slight subsi- 

 dences of the ground which, curiously enough, are full of fish, 

 though they have often no river running out of them. The 

 same afternoon I reached Bandar, and the next day held on to 

 the village of Pagar Alam. 



From Pagar Alam to my destination at the little village of 

 Pau, lying 3500 feet above the sea level on the slope of the 

 Dempo, where it begins to raise its majestic mass more erectly, 

 was but a forenoon's march. The village of Pau was very 

 small, and its Balai of minute dimensions. Without an hour's 

 delay, however, I set about enlarging and rendering it habit- 

 able. By the combined efforts of the greater portion of the 

 inhabitants of two villages which lay within a few minutes' 

 walk, we floored the place, railed off a part for a sleeping 

 apartment and fitted a bed into it, furnished the outer portion 

 with a table and a door, which we made out of that blessedest 

 of all the vegetable productions of a tooUess and saw-mill-less 

 land, the bamboo ; and before night I had unpacked all my 

 baggage, books, and apparatus, and settled into my neat abode 

 with feelings of the utmost satisfaction and contentment after 

 my thirty-five days' march. The village lay on the road 

 leading to Bencoolen, and as once a week a large market was 

 held near Pagar Alam, I had an opportunity of seeing not a 

 few of the people of the districts towards the sea-coast, as 

 they came often to the markets in the way of trade, and 

 often passed a night in the village. As a sort of good- 

 will exhibition towards the villagers, and a return for their 

 hospitality they would often give a musical performance, or 

 engage in a dance. One of the latter interested me much. 

 The dance itself was very much like the Lampong dances, 

 calm and attitudinal, but with the addition of lighted tapers, 



