yield ; considerable quantities of that article are
brought to Padang from these, the Batu and other
islands off this part of Sumatra.
At sunset, next day, we were near Pasaman, a
small place on the coast, west of the lofty peak of
Opliir. Thousands of small, fleecy cumuli at that
time covered the sky, and, as the sun neared the
horizon, all these clouds were changed into the
brightest gold. Indeed, the whole sky seemed literally
paved with small blocks of gold, most of which
were bordered with a narrow margin of purple. One
end of this great arch seemed to rest on the distant
horizon, the other on the crests of the lofty mountains
east of us, but especially on the top of Mount
Ophir, whose western side was lighted up with tints
of gold and purple of surpassing richness.
All this glorious display in the heavens was so
perfectly repeated, even to the minutest details, on
the calm sea, that it was difficult to tell which to
admire more, the sky or the ocean. Of all the rich
sunsets I enjoyed while in the tropical East, this was
by far the most magnificent, and never did I imagine
it was possible for any one, while here on earth,
to behold a scene that would so nearly approach the
splendor of the Celestial City, described in the apocalyptic
vision as being “ of pure gold, like unto
clear glass.”
The next morning we were near Tiku, a village
at the mouth of the small stream that flows out
from the lake in the bottom of the great crater of
Manindyu. The circular mountain - range which
forms the walls of this great crater was clear
seen, and the deep rent through it, by which the
waters collected in the bottom of the crater find a
passage out to the sea. Twenty miles south of Tiku
is Priaman, the place to which most of the coffee from
the Menangkabau, or, as the Dutch prefer to call it,
the Padang plateau, is brought to be sent in praus to
Padang. On the evening of the fifth day the Apen-
burg on Ape Hill, which marks the approach to Padang,
and the shipping in the road, near by, were in
full view. One large and very fine ship was flying
the American ensign. In a few hours more I found
myself again in the palace of the governor, and thus
the expedition through the land of cannibals was
safely over.
The American ship was owned by one of the
largest and most enterprising firms in Boston. Her
captain and his lady were on shore, and I soon
hurried to their boarding-place; and, at once, we
almost felt ourselves back in New England, and forgot
that we were far from America, in a land of
palms, and of one long, endless summer.
The chief article exported from this place to the
United States is coffee. It is a very variable crop.
During the last nine years it has varied in quantity
from six thousand piculs (eight hundred thousand
pounds) in 1857, to seventy-two thousand piculs
(nine million six hundred thousand pounds) m
1858* .
The king’s birthday—the great national holiday
with the Dutch—now occurred. In the mom-
* For a detailed list of the quantities exported each year, and the
average price, see Appendix D.