IN SVMATRA. 213 



me, pickinfT our way in the dark over the stones and anion"- 

 the bushes. We had hardly set out when a dense mist began 

 to enyelop its flanks and summit, which up to this time had 

 stood out against the sky with perfect sharpness. Before we 

 were able to reach the crest wo could see that the sun had 

 already come up, from the lighter glow of the mist in the east ; 

 but no view anywhere, however, could be obtained. It was 

 very cold and damp, and the thermometer did not register up 

 to seven o'clock more than 48-50° P., and even at half-past 

 seven it had fallen again to 4550° F. Hoping that the mist 

 would clear, we seated ourselves behind a rock out of the wind to 

 watch the geyser below us ; and beside one of the small 

 enclosures, oi' low barricades of stone a few feet in length, 

 which were dotted all along the ridge, the sleeping places, thus 

 roughly sheltered from the wind, of the devotees who come to 

 inquire of the Dewa of the mountain in times of difficulty or, 

 as my guide said, in hope of finding near them in the morning 

 some charm whose possession would protect them against harm 

 or enable them to prevail over their enemies, or to attain some 

 dear object of their desire or ambition ; " but they often," he 

 added, " experience nothing but the cold." 



As the sun rose a little higher and stronger, I observed on 

 the margin of the crater opposite to us a curious horseshoe- 

 shaped rainbow, and for some moments I was not aware that I 

 was witnessing a display of the Spectre of the Broelcen. Each 

 person's shadow thrown on the mist was surrounded by a bright 

 halo outside which was a band of mist, and the whole enclosed 

 in the distinct horseshoe-shaped rainbow. At length the mist 

 entirely cleared off the mountains, and we stood gazing on a 

 wonderful scene half land and half sea, from the highest peak 

 within the sweep of the eye; but any attempt to convey a 

 picture of such varied elements can be at best but mere dis- 

 jointed suggestions. 



Looking away south-east, the eye. passing over the plain of 

 Passumah Ulu Manna, laid out in rice-fields in their first 

 fresh greenness of May, and dotted with grove-environed 

 villages, falls on the white surf of the distant ocean far to the 

 south of the town of Manna, and follows it northward by its 

 forest-clad margin, on which I could even discern the tide 

 gently heaving, to beyond Bencoolen, until the meeting of 



