370 TRAVELS m THE ElST IX^DTAy ARCHIPELA(K), 



marking the shady way I had taken from Kema to Me- 

 nado. This is conBidered, and I believe i-ightly, the 

 finest view in the archipelago, and one of the most 

 charming in the world, "because the other famous 

 views, like tliat of Damascus, do not include that 

 great emblem of infinity, the open ocean. 



liice is raised at even as great an elevation as the 

 place we had reached, about four thousand five hun- 

 dred feet, in what are called hehon knng, " diy gar- 

 dens." Tliese are known as t£gal lands in Java. The 

 yield is said not to be as large as on the low lands, 

 sawa^, by the margin of the lake which are over- 

 flowed in the usual manner. The yearly crop in the 

 Minaliassa is from one hundred and ^ilj to two hun- 

 dred thousand piculs, of which ten to eighteen thou- 

 sand are exported chiefiy to Ternate and Amboina. 

 Tobacco is also cultivated, but only for home con- 

 sumption. Cocoa is also raised ; and this year (ISCo) 

 forty-four and three-foui-th piculs were exported. 

 Like that at Amboinaj it is all bought by Chinamen, 

 who send it to Manilla. Cocoa-nuts are also ex- 

 ported to the chief islands eastward. The yield this 

 year is estimated by the officials at four million. 

 There is a great abundance here of the gomuti or 

 sagaru palm-tree, the large petioles of which spread 

 out at the base into broad fibrous sheets that enclose 

 the trunk Some of the fibres resemble horsehair, but 

 are much stiffer and very brittle, and are gathered by 

 the natives and manufactured into coir, a kind of 

 coarse rope. As the fi]>res soon break, they project 

 in every du-ection until the rope becomes extremely 

 rough and difficult to handla It has the valuable 



