480 TRAVELS IX TflE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



tlie plains for the same reason. Kear Solok, the in- 

 ner range tbat forms tlie western buttress of the pla- 

 teau rises up above the suiTounding plain like a great 

 wall^ that cui'ves round to the west and unites with 

 the Barizan chain in the great Talang, which attains 

 an elevation of about eight thousand five hundred 

 feet. A short distance north of it is a cleft, thi'ough 

 which the Kesident is now building a road to Fadang. 

 About twelve miles to the north are two other clefts, 

 near Paningahan, formed by the throes of a volcano 

 near that karapoug ; and farther north is the cleft at 

 Padang Panjang, all four occm'ring within less than 

 thirty miles in a straight line. 



On the southeastern declivity of Talang, at the 

 height of six thousand feet, is a small tarn, whence 

 issues the Solok River, that empties into Lake Sinkara, 

 the source of the Ombiling, which curves to the east 

 and southeast, and unites with the Sinamu, that we 

 have ab-eady traced from Paya Ivombo down the 

 Bua Valley. From their junctui-e begins the In* 

 dragiri, which, pursuing an easterly course over the 

 low lands that form the eastern side of Sumatra, 

 empties into the Java Sea nearly opposite the Linga 

 Islands. This tarn, therefore, may be regarded as 

 the source of the Indragiii ; and within a ckcle of 

 half a mile radius rise three streams that flow in 

 wholly different directions — two, the Indragiri and 

 Jambi, emptying into the Java Sea, and the third 

 mingling its waters with those of the Indian Ocean. 



April lOth, — ^Rodo on horseback from Sinkara 

 north to Samawang, at the outlet of the late, and 

 thence continued on foot in a westerly direction to 



