HONESTY OF THE COOUES. 87 



height of the barometer, from which I deduced the 

 height of Kobonsari above the sea to be 3,441 feet- 



I had at first some hesitation at trusting my ba- 

 rometer to the hands of a coolie, but I found it by 

 far the best plan. I always took it out of its case, 

 and shewed it to him first, that he might have an 

 idea of its fragility, and then shewed him how to 

 carry it, and often passed him on the road, after 

 setting off, studiously holding it in the same position, 

 with a face of the utmost gravity and earnestness, 

 and sometimes, I think, a little awe of so incom- 

 prehensible an instrument. Our baggage was car- 

 ried partly slung on poles of bamboo, and partly 

 on a square bamboo frame, like a handbarrow with 

 sides. In this, various minor articles were frequently 

 left loose and open, but we never lost anything, nor 

 had anything injured from any of the sets of coolies 

 we employed, and they generally arrived at the 

 halting places in a surprisingly short time after we 

 ourselves reached it on horseback, A more willing, 

 obedient, honest, and hard-working set of people 

 indeed no one could have wished for. 



After an hour's halt at Kobonsari, we proceeded 

 with fresh horses, and rode for one or two miles 

 down gentle slopes, in a green lane, between coffee 

 plantations, the bushes of which were now covered 

 with green berries in great profusion. We then 

 crossed a little valley of long grass or alang alang, 

 after which we came to the foot of a ridge covered 

 with loose blocks of stone. This was the first stoney 



