350 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



of bis face the muscles near the cheek-bone and on 

 the temple were dreadfully lacerated. That a man 

 should ever escape alive after his head had once been 

 between a crocodile's jaws is certaiuly the next thing 

 to a miiacle. I asked him what he thought when 

 he found his head in such a vice.. " Well/^ said he, 

 coollyj " I thought my time had come, but that I had 

 better sing out while I could, aud that's what saved 

 me, you seeJ' 



Becemher 2Stk—At 6 a. m. bade the Eesident 

 good-by, and started tor the highlands in the interior 

 vrith an opas or official servant as a guide and attend- 

 ant. It was a lovely morning. The cuckoos were 

 pouring out their early songs, and the gurgling of 

 the brook by the wayside was almost the only other 

 sound that disturbed the stillness of the morning. 

 A few cii'ri were floating high in the sky, and also a 

 number of cumuli, whose peipendicular sides reflected 

 the bright sunlight like pearly, opaque crystals. 

 Along the way we met natives of both sexes carry- 

 ing tobacco and vegetables to market, the men hav- 

 ing tlieii' loads in a sled-shaped fi*ame on their backs, 

 and the women caiTying theirs in shallow baskets on 

 their heads. Our road, which led to the south, was — 

 like all In the Minahassa — Abroad and well graded, 

 and where it ascended an accli\aty coarse fibres from 

 the leaves of the gomuti pabn were laid across it 

 from place to place to cause the water to drain off 

 into the ditches by its sides. When the road caane 

 to a village it always divided, that all the carts may 

 go round the village, and not through it. This 

 an'angement enal)les the natives to keep the street 



