20 PIG-SHOOTING EXCURSION. 



journey. It appeared that the Dutch authorities 

 having granted permission for our journey, all the 

 arrangements for our reception and transit were 

 handed over to the native chiefs, orders "being sent 

 along the route we intended to pursue. After 

 leaving the Regent we prepared to set out for Rongo 

 Jalan on our pig-shooting excursion. We set off from 

 the hotel in a very inconvenient old carriage with 

 six horses, but had scarcely got a mile out of Probo- 

 lingo, when our coachman, who seemed hardly equal 

 to six in hand, in endeavouring to turn up a cross 

 road, got his horses all in a heap, nearly overturned 

 us, and broke one of the pins that secured the pole. 

 We immediately sent two horses back and a man 

 to bring a new pin, but in the meanwhile, a Chinese, 

 passing by in a cart, who was a kind of travelling 

 blacksmith, came to our assistance, and in a short 

 time enabled us to proceed. We whiled away the 

 time by strolling among the stalls of a small 

 market-place close by, and lunching on coffee, rice- 

 cakes, and bananas. When again under weigh we 

 travelled several miles, till we passed a post-house, 

 and came to a rough hill, when it appeared our sapient 

 coachman did not know exactly where Rongo Jalan 

 was. After a little time a man came who offered to 

 take us across to the place, which we found to be three 

 miles distant, and we sent the carriage round. The 

 country here was undulating, and not very rich or 

 well cultivated, and we crossed several morasses 

 and pools of water, arriving only a little before 



