ROAD-SIDE REFRESHMENTS. 25 



while coffee seemed to be carried in large packs or 

 hampers on the backs of the ponies. These ponies, 

 though small, were strong and spirited little crea- 

 tures. 



Coming to a small village of one kampong, we 

 found under some old trees in front of it, two or 

 three bamboo huts or stalls, with hot tea, coffee, 

 sweet potatoes, rice-cakes, and a kind of cold rice- 

 pudding, for sale. They had also fruit, such as 

 mangoes and bananas. We immediately stopped 

 and refreshed, rather to the amusement of our escort, 

 and, at first I thought, to the slight alarm of the 

 people, who hardly seemed used to European cus- 

 tomers, However we found their viands very good, 

 and soon put the people at their ease. The women 

 here (who, as elsewhere, were the principal shop- 

 keepers and transactors of business) had their ears 

 bored by large holes, the flap hanging down very 

 much, a custom I did not observe elsewhere. They 

 all spoke Javanese, which was quite unintelligible 

 to us, although we were gradually picking up a little 

 Malay. 



About one o'clock we turned off from the road to 

 the left, by a little track across the fields, and then got 

 into a narrow winding lane, with deep banks over- 

 grown with creeping plants and underwood, that led 

 down to a rapid brook full of little waterfalls. The 

 scenery put me in mind of spots in Devonshire, or 

 south Shropshire, so green and fresh was all the 

 vegetation, and so pleasant the deep narrow lanes 



