FROM KOPAIYONG TO KABAN AGONG. 



501 



and various kinds of trinkets. The poptilation of 

 this region appears to be only a small fraction of 

 what it ia on the Padang plateau ; if it were as lai'ge 

 and industrioug, the upper valley of the Musi would 

 soon he transformed into one great garden, and Ben- 

 coolen, to which its products must be taken to be 

 shipped abroad, would immediately become a port 

 of the first importance. I had seriously contem- 

 plated undertaking the journey from Solok to this 

 place, and if it had not been necessary for me to re- 

 turn to Padang, I should have attempted it, notwith- 

 standing it would have been necessary to have trav- 

 elled the whole distance on foot, and to have met 

 constant hinderances and annoyances from the natives, 

 who are extremely jealous of all foreigners. The 

 distance from Solok, iu a straight line, is nearly two 

 hundred geographical miles, but by the zigzag and 

 eii'cuitous route which I would have been obliged to 

 take, it would Lave been nearly three hundred. 



The house of the controlmr at this place is cov- 

 ered with an atap of bamboo splints, made m the 

 same way as the common atap of palm-leaves, but it 

 is much neater, and said to be far more durable. 



April 25#A.. — As there are no white people at the 

 place where I am to lodge to-night, the cmtroleur 

 was so kind as to send a servant yesterday with an 

 ample supply of eatables, and orders to the rajahs on 

 the way to receive me kindly when I reached theii* 

 respective villages. 



At 6 A. M. started with a guide and a coolie for 

 Kaban Agong, a distance of nine paals in a southeast- 

 erly direction, along the Musi, which, in this part of 



