IN SUMATRA. 



179 



tion, la the form uf a segment of a great circle, its floor was 

 of cylmdrical logs securely tie^l to three gigantic rattan cubit's 

 the true supports of the bridge, fixed to the shore pillars; 

 over these logs was a close bamboo bsisket-work pleasant to 

 the nude foot of the pedestrian, railed on both sides, and pro* 

 tected overhead by a close thatched roof—the whole forming 

 a long hanging cage, which swayed freely as it was traversed. 

 From this bridge I again ascended abruptly on to what was 

 once in all probability the bed of the Rftnau lake before it^ 

 dimensions were interfered with by upheavals. The rivers I 

 passed had eut deep rocky gorges, dovra which it required 

 some care to pick one's steps, through the strata of 150 to 

 IdOO feet in depth, showing the pnmicestono tuff superin- 

 cumbent on Tertiary rocks of Eocene age containing fossil 

 Cyprtm. Teredinu, and Pedm shells. The whole country was 

 undulating, and full of alang-alang grass, and low second- 

 growth forest which presented in itself little of interest, and 

 prevented any view of the surrounding country. 



The houses of the Kisam people were of a pattern of tlieir 

 own. They were mostly of bamboo wiekerwork fitted into a 

 framework of wood, and slated with little Ixtards of cedrilla 

 wood. Each house had bnilt out from it a chamber on the 

 same level with it under a slightly lower roof, which was used 

 as a lounging place for the owner and a sleeping room for 

 visitors. The door was reached— as the houses stood on tall 

 piles — by a slanting tree-trunk, in which a series of notches 

 only large enough to admit the toes served as steps, and up 

 which a hooted traveller found it no easy matter to ascend. 

 The space below the house was blocked with chopped-up wood, 

 whose primary use was, doubtless, as a protection against the 

 entrance of thieves or attack from below by enemies, as it is 

 apparent how easy it would be to thrust a spear or other 

 instrument through the bamboo floor into the bodies of the 

 sleepers resting on it. The beneath of a man's house is con- 

 sidered almost aa sacred as its interior, and their laws attached 

 supreme penalties to the crime of being found at night there. 

 The house framework in most of the villages was elaborately 

 carved in intricate psitterns executed with the most patient 

 cAre. In Padjar-bulan, a very old village which I passed 

 through, til""" dri'orativc earving far excfcded in profusion and 



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