THE KING'S BlETflDAY. 



455 



seen, and the deep rent through it, by which the 

 waters collected in the bottom of the crater find a 

 passage out to the sea. Twenty miles south of Tiku 

 ia Priaman, the place to which most of the coffee from 

 the Menangkabau, or, as the Dutch prefer to call it, 

 the Padang plateau, is brought to be sent in praus to 

 Padang. On the evenmg of the fifth day the Apen- 

 burg, on Ape llill^ which marks the approach to Pa- 

 dang, and the shipping in the road, near by, were in 

 full view. One large and veiy fine ship was flying 

 the American ensign. In a few hours more I found 

 myself again in the palace of the governor, and thus 

 the expedition thi'ough the laud of cannibals was 

 safely over. 



The American ship was owned by one of the 

 largest and most enterprising firms in Boston. Her 

 captain and his lady were on shore, and I soon 

 hmried to their boarding-place; and, at once, we 

 almost felt ourselves back in New England, and for- 

 got that we were far from America^ in a land of 

 palms, and of one long, endless summer. 



The chief article exported from this place to the 

 United States is coffee. It is a very variable crop. 

 Dmiug the last nine years it has varied in quantity 

 from six thousand piculs (eight hundred thousand 

 pounds) in 1857, to seventy-two thousand piculs 

 (nine million six hundi'ed thousand pounds) in 

 1858.* 



The king's birthday — ^the great national holi- 

 day with the Dutch — now occun-ed. In the mom- 



* For & detailed list of the quantities exported each year, and the 

 average price, see Appendix D. 



