62 
VISIT TO THE VOLCANOES. 
chance at a leopard, when after a herd of deer. I could just 
see their heads above the long grass, and as they passed on 
the other side of a tree with low projecting branches that 
stood rather in the open, I tried to steal up under cover of it. 
When about 40 or 50 yards from the tree, I saw something 
move in the branches. It appeared to be a black monkey of 
which there were a great many in the jungle, so I took no 
more notice of it. I had not advanced more than ten paces, 
when down it dropped from the tree, and as it passed through 
the sunlight I saw the spots of a leopard. My disgust was 
intense. I ran up as hard as I could but the brute had 
sneaked away through the long grass, and my running 
forward frightened the deer, so I lost both. 
As it was considered infra dig, for an officer in my 
position to travel in any other way than in^a carriage, so long 
as I remained on the htgh roads 1 was obliged to submit, 
but as we approached the mountams, or whenever from various 
reasons we had to leave the main road, we had to take to our 
horses, a much more pleasant mode of proceeding. As we 
approached the Tengger range of hills with the mighty 
Smeroe, the highest volcano in Java, rising abruptly 12,000 
feet in a huge cone, the scenery became very grand, and the 
mountain had a very imposing effect ; this precipitous cone at 
that time had never been ascended, although several attempts 
had been made. During the time we were waiting for horses 
I amused myself in making a rough sketch of the magnificent 
view at the back of the bungalow at Paparawang, which was 
situated about 50 feet above the river, which at this time of 
the year (July) was like a trout stream at home, twisting and 
turning about in all directions, through a beautiful green 
valley; beyond which are coffee plantations and rice fields, and 
