120 SITUATION OF ANTANG. 



into conversation with the Widono, who was a 

 slightly-built, active, and intelligent man, mounted 

 on a very pretty grey pony. Wishing to see its 

 paces, I challenged him to a race, but found he had 

 some hesitation in passing me, till I encouraged him 

 to do so, when he went by like a shot, but soon 

 pulled up, and seemed much gratified at my praise 

 of his horse. On my asking him how much he 

 would sell it for, he replied, he would let me have 

 the horse for 300 rupees silver (about 20/. sterling) ; 

 but he could not part with the saddle (evidently an 

 English one), as it had been given to him by a par- 

 ticular friend of his, an English gentleman, who 

 had had a coffee plantation near Antang, but whose 

 name I forget. 



About eleven o'clock we entered another broader 

 valley, and saw the town of Antang below us, in a 

 very beautiful and picturesque situation, on a raised 

 flat at the head of the valley, which opened towards 

 the south, between Mount Kawi and Mount Klut. 

 A deep-banked brook issued from each side of the 

 town, and lower down were very extensive rice-fields, 

 with the green rice growing among shallow water. 

 The meadows about the brooks and their steep 

 sides were covered with beautiful turf of a most 

 brilliant green, groves of cocoa-nuts surrounded the 

 town, while the hills on each side, though not very 

 lofty, were most picturesquely broken into peaks 

 and ridges, and precipitous slopes, covered with dark 

 wood. 



