236 TOUR FROM SOUR ABA Y A, THROUGH KEBIRr, &C. 
even a large native village, though the chief place of the dis¬ 
trict. A tew Chinamen are found, connected either with the 
Government farm, or doing a little peddling trade. The 
Kapanjen, (or residence of the Fanji,) is so called, as a chief 
of this rank used to be stationed here in the days of native 
rule. The present eonlrolleur living on the same ground, it 
still retains its former name. It is at one side of a kind of 
alun alun, on which plain is also the house of the Widono, and 
Government coffee store. Blitar, as before observed, is managed 
under a system of forbearance in the hope of encouraging the 
increase of population. The people pay no land rents so that 
the produce of their own paddy fields and other private 
cultivation is untaxed, but in lieu of this they have to plant 
coffee for the Government for which they receive only/6| 
copper per picul, whilst in other districts y^lO is paid, and a 
few years ago/12 copper. Mr Laup, who has charge of the 
district, has been here since 1832 and appears well acquainted 
with his subjects. His fitness for this situation has obtained 
for him the distinction of controlleur of the third class, though 
not one of the regular covenant servants. He is approaching 
fast the age of 60 though yet active and vivacious. Blitar 
belonged formerly to the Court of Solo and was a fief of the 
'old Adipati prime minister. In days of old, one of the sons 
of the reigning prince was generally called Pangeran Blitar. 
The district now contains about 2,000 working men and in 
1846 they gathered in 6,000 pciuls of coffee, but part of this 
population is employed dragging timber to a saw mill, as will 
be mentioned hereafter. 
Anxious to see all that was worth visiting and having no 
time to lose, soon after breakfast Mr Laup procured horses 
for our carriage, and accompanied us to visit the ruined 
temple of Panataran There is a very passable carriage road 
all the way, which terminates at a small river close to the tem¬ 
ple, The distance is 7 pauls, and a gradual ascent is made 
towards the foot of the Klut, in a north easterly direction 
from Blitar. The first paul of the way you pass through 
coffee gardens; these however, rarely extend above a few 
hundred feet on either side, and are meant to keep the road 
clear and deprive the numerous tigers of too easy an ambush. 
The greater part of the way however is forest, with hardly a 
hut to be seen, though the soil is black and rich. 
Alighting at the rivulet and ascending the opposite brow, 
you turn a corner and have the ruins of Panataran before you, 
surrounded by primitive forest. The principal building is 
the most easterly of the group of ruins, The general figure 
