FIVE DAYS IN NANING. 
sso 
ings, and carefully abstain from pronouncing the name of 
God or performing any act of worship. Any acknowledg¬ 
ment of the sovereignty of Allah offends the dewa who im¬ 
mediately “ hides the gold” or renders it invisible. At some 
of the great limbongan mas or gold pits in the Malay states 
of the interior, any allusion to the deity subjects the unwit¬ 
ting miner to a penalty which is imposed by the Panghulu* 
There was no trace of laterite at or near the gold pits or 
the path to them. We returned along one side of the hollow 
which rapidly widened and deepened till it became a small 
shallow ravine. As we proceeded along the public road, 
laterite soon appeared in the form of gravel, scoriform 
blocks, and occasionally intermixed with quartz as on the 
road between Alor Gaja and Tabo. At one place fragments 
of a bluish hornblendic quartz, similar to that in the gold 
pits, were strewed about, marking the course of a similar 
vein. So little accustomed are the Malay to connect their 
observations and draw conclusions from them, that no one 
would ever dream of looking for gold anywhere save in an 
alluvial flat. 
After crossing the broad surface of Jalatang, we descended 
into the narrow flat of Gauong Kaehe, which runs to the 
W. N. W. in a line which cuts the N. E» extremity of Gu- 
nong Tampeng. The next hill, B. Ganong, is also a wide 
tract of slight elevation, and, like B. Jalatang, lateritic in 
many places. The road at first lies through dense coppice. 
Towards the northern side of the elevation the jungle retires 
on both sides, leaving an open green covered with the com¬ 
mon short and scanty grass, and dotted with shrubs. These 
greens, which indicate the vicinity of villages, are very agree¬ 
able. The jungles contain abundant matter for observation, 
and in the heat of the day, save in the middle hours, form 
a grateful screen, but the senses soon become in some 
measure dulled to their beauties from constant repetition, 
and the eye longs to be relieved from “the boundless con¬ 
tiguity of shade.” Hence we see with a keen relish the light 
breaking into the depths of the thick entangled wood, the 
trees scattering, and the little plain gradually opening. In 
the morning a glittering freshness clothes the grass, and the 
birds, which prefer such places to the hearts of the jungles, 
flit about and make the spot cheerful with their notes. Fruit 
trees and cottages soon appeared on the right while the 
green continued on the left, goats cropt the grass and skip¬ 
ped about, and the whole scene had a character at once so 
peaceful and so lively that I felt disposed to retract the 
