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the high-pitched roofs of either the Batak or Meningkabau people* A few 
of them had wood carving - one rather striking example showing an 
elephant silhouetted in the elaborate fretwork over the door - but 
most of them are very simple. Walls of the houses were sometimes of 
woodfn planks, sometimes of saplings woven together, sometimes of 
palm thatchmt. 
The people show a great love of bright colors* A villainous 
cerise silk was popular with both men and women for blouses, and 
clashed noisily with their purple or green sarongs* The women are 
comely, and the men slightly Mongolian in appearance, especially 
the ones with long drooping moustaches * They are shy, however, and 
if we stopped a±ong the road to take pictures or to do some collecting 
they hurried silently past us, instead of gathering in curious groups 
the way people do in other parts of the country* No children shouted 
Tabe or Horas as we passed* 
We lunched in Lho Bern a we, which is right on the coast* I line 
of easuarina trees on the beach makes the shore very different from 
either the coconut palm beaches or the mangrove- swamps* We lunched 
at a funny little hotel called the Cousijns® It was hot, and we 
were in a hurry, so to save time we tried ordering a cold lunch 
instead of the customary nasi goreng * We asked for the various 
cold meats and cheeses that constitute a Dut ch breakfast - and sure 
enough our bill read Tf 4 ontbiets (breakfasts) T? * Beirne thought we 
saved a lot of time doing this, but I noticed that Williams, who 
S&ixESxKXXEia arrived an hour after we did, and ordered nasi goreng, 
was finished with his meal as soon as we were. 
The open, arid country was between Lho Semawe and Bireuen, and 
it was here that we saw the fan palm growing. 
We had hoped to make Takengon by night, as we are tired of the 
monotony of the coast country, but it was half past three when we 
reached Bireuen, and rather than start a hundred-kra. drive up into 
the mountains at that late hour, we put up at the P? sanggrahan. It 
was a nice little place, rim by two Chinese who were especially proud 
of their kerosene-run Electrolux* Instead of having one large screened 
section of the bedroom, big enough for two beds as is the custom, 
we ha d here two quite separate klambos* In spite of the heat the 
Mandoer insisted on closing the heavy wooden shutters as soon as it 
was dark. I opened them two or three times, and finally had the last 
word and was able to sleep with the dangerous night air coming right 
into the bedroom* 
June 21 - 
We started early in the morning, and took all day to get to 
Takengon* The road begins to climb almost as soon as it leaves 
Bireuen, and winds up into the mountains, over a ridge and down again, 
through ravines, over high open grass country, through jungle, eventually 
into the coffee country* I do not know how high the highest pass was, 
but fefes Lake Tawar itself, is something over 4,000 feet altitude* 
Half way up we stopped at the little village of Blang Rakal to 
see Datoek Radja Soedan, one of the most famous hunters of the At jeh 
country. He keeps a little KtfHUfcry restaurant, and we went through 
it to get in the back yard, we noticed pictures of the old chief and 
his son as they appeared in Shoedsack f s picutre !, Rango ? -. We were 
sorry that the Datoek himself was not at home iksri, but we were told 
