174 



A NATUEALIHT'B WANDEniNOS 



CHAPTER lY. 



BOJOUBH IN TKE PALEMBANG ■RESlBE^CY—cmtm'Ued. 



Leave Hoodjooi>g— Denudatiou — Great Arunis— Snkan— Cbief* of the Baimii 

 region^ — Tantljong-KJjftti on the lUnau Lake— The high temperature of the 

 water— Birds, fishes, intereatTDg Insecis— Banding Ajrong— To Muara 

 Dua — Tliroiij*h Kigam^-Geoloficsil notes— Kisam villages — Coat of 

 arms — Writing, dnas, religion of Eisam people. 



Leatikq Hoodjoong in the end of January, I proceeded north 

 eastward towards Mount Simmung and the H&nau lake 

 district ; repassing on the way Kenali and Batn-brah, I crossed 

 the Semangka river near its head-waters, as a small stream run* 

 ning in a very deep valley of soft sandstone. In descending 

 the face of the valley the gigantic results of denudation were 

 very striking, where the rain of only one season had heen 

 snflBcient to excavate enormous ravines. Even the rain of a 

 few days had newly washed down thousands of tons* weight 

 from its slopes. Prom this caus?e the whole country was 

 exceedingly picturesque, sculptured out into singular and 

 rugged outlines, steep gorges and precipitous valleys. From 

 such a landscape one is able to picture faintly the effect of 

 this vast levelling agent working ceiiselessly through cycles 

 of time, in carving and changing the face of the country and 

 in planing down the moimtains and tiible-lands, even where 

 protected by virgin forest. 



From the crossing of the Semaugka river the road to the 

 northward rises to the watershed of the rivers which fall on 

 the one hand south to the Semangka Bay, and on the other 

 into the lake Eanau and thence eastward by an arm of that 

 immense river system which drains the whole eastern side of 

 the Burisan range for more than 200 miles due north, and dis- 

 charges itself into the Java sea below the queer half-floating 

 town of Pal em bang. ThU mountain road, 3000 feet al>ove the 



