SUMATRA'S WEST COAST 459 



for the Dutch army. Officers and men are sent there from other 

 portions of the archipelago to recover from the malarial fever or 

 the berri-berri, the two most prevalent and dangerous diseases 

 of this portion of the world. The cool, dry mountain air soon 

 fits them for active service again. The town itself has little of 

 interest. The hotel, filled as it is with convalescent soldiers and 

 their faithful wives, is poor enough, being kept by half-castes 

 with more kindliness than business ability. The surrounding- 

 country is open prairie, dotted with clumps of bamboo and bits 

 of thick woodland, and makes a very different impression from 

 the scenery about Padang Pandjang. The native villages, sur- 

 rounded by fruit trees and patches of upland rice, contain a well- 

 to-do race of people, some of whom manufacture jewelry, ex- 

 pensive gold-woven cloths, and beaten silverware, Kota Gedong 

 being the center for this kind of work. It was interesting to no- 

 tice the independence of the native women, which in fact is one 

 of their marked characteristics, either an outgrowth or conse- 

 quence of their marriage customs. A man and woman upon 

 marrying do not form a home of their own, but the husband re- 

 mains among his own circle of relations and resides only tempo- 

 rarily with his wife. The children remain with her and inherit 

 all her property and a half of that earned by their father and 

 mother together. The remaining half goes to their father's sisters 

 or to the children of those- sisters. 



From Fort de Kock to the little village of Pajo Kombo, the 

 end of this branch of the railroad, is only a few miles. It is the 

 farthest inland town that can be reached by rail, and its principal 

 street, a broad, straight avenue of casuarinas, is lined on either 

 side with innumerable small villages and curious messigits or 

 Mohammedan temples. Near the center of this avenue is a large 

 open square or market-place, in which on " Passar " or market 

 days the natives gather with their curious wares. It is on such 

 market days that the Pajo Kombo women, noted all over the 

 Dutch East Indies for their beauty, are to be seen arrayed in their 

 costly sarongs and decked out with their bangles, ear-buttons, 

 and bracelets. Whether or not we really saw a special market 

 or Passar besar I do not know, but there were thousands of people 

 there whose costumes to our ej^es did not compare favorabty 

 with those worn at the modest little passar near Padang Pand- 

 jang. Few sights can surpass a Malay passar, however, in in- 

 terest. There is a wonderful array of strange fruit and vege- 

 tables, devices for striking fire, children's toys, ornaments for 



