414 



bird's-nest caverns. 



hundred miles.* This road was a very good one: 

 broad t straight, level, and well made. It ran across 

 a flat between the low hills and the sea. Just out of 

 the town I passed a native party, consisting of a 

 man on horseback in a gay dress, his face, neck, 

 and hands smeared over with a yellow paste : one 

 attendant held a large painted and gilt umbrella 

 over him, while two preceded with a blue banner, 

 and several followed in handsome dresses and orna- 

 mented krisses. I believe he was a bridegroom of 

 rank, going in procession to his bride. About three 

 miles from Grissek we turned up a cross road to 

 the left, and ascended a low hill, where the ground 

 became rocky ; and in another mile or so stopped 

 under a large shed or alcove, that stretched across 

 the road. Here I was requested to alight, and a 

 man coming from a neighbouring kampong con- 

 ducted me to the caverns. The rock of these small 

 hills was in many places bare, and its weathered 

 aspect looked exactly like coral rock, and like many 

 parts of a coral reef when left dry. It was rough, 

 dark -brown, and much honey-combed, externally. 

 I could not, however, find so much as a single piece 

 of coral any where, nor could I trace any organic 

 structure in any part of the rock. On the top of 

 the first low hill I found a large, square, open shed 



* The extreme length of the island of Java, in a straight line, 

 is 6C0 statute miles; its greatest breadth 130; its least 38, 

 where we crossed it ; and its mean breadth between 80 and DO 

 miles. 



