R I D I N G ALONG A P R E C I P I C E ,
seemed to hang in the air, and then the road widened.
I drew a long breath of relief, and then bounded out
over the wheel on to the solid ground, before I could
fully satisfy myself that, thanks to a kind Providence
and the force of gravitation, I was really safe.
The inspector said that he had travelled many
thousand miles in Java, in all manners of ways, and
through all manners of dangers, but was never so
frightened before, and that he would not go back
that way in a carriage for ten thousand guilders. If
we had only known what we were coming to, we
could have got out and walked, but it was already too
late when we saw the danger. I determined to ride
no farther in the carriage that day, and made our guide
exchange places with me, and give me his horse. This
dangerous place the natives call Kabawjatu, I where-
the-buffaloes-fall.” Only a short time before, a Malay
was driving a single buffalo to market along this
way, when he shied a little, went off headlong, and
was dashed in pieces on the rocks beneath.
A short distance beyond this place we changed
horses, at a little settlement of the Lubus. Their
houses are scattered over the mountain-side, and not
gathered into one place. They are ten or fifteen feet
long, and eight or ten wide, and perched on high
poles. The walls are made of bamboo, and the roofs
are thatched with straw, like all that we have seen
since leaving Lubu Sikeping, instead of atap, which
is used by all the natives farther south. The officials
here informed me that these people eat bananas, and
probably most fruits, maize, dogs, monkeys, and even
snakes, but never rice; and this is the more strange