were liere reproducing in stone the wonders of the
vegetable kingdom. After crossing the stream two
or three times we came to the end of this grand hall,
and climbed up what appeared to be a waterfall, but
was, in reality, solid stone. The water, flowing over
the steep ledge of limestone, had in time deposited
over its rough edges an incrustation, which, of course,
took exactly the form of the running water that
made it.
Having reached the top of this petrified fall, we
passed on our hands and knees through a small hole,
and found ourselves in another large hall of an elliptical
form. At the farther end was a small rivulet
gurgling its way among the large rocks that covered
the floor of the cave. I had been told that this water
was so hot that a man could not hold his hand in i t ;
but, on trying it with the thermometer, I found the
mercury only rose to 92° Fahrenheit, not quite up to
blood-heat (98°). I t abounded, however, in small
•fish about four inches long, several of which the natives
caught with their hands. They all had eyes
that were apparently well formed, though this place
seemed to us absolutely cut off from daylight.
Returning to the outer cave, we proceeded a short
way by wading in the bed of the stream, but the cavern
now diminished into an irregular tunnel, and the
water that flowed through it was too deep for us to
go on in safety, and we were therefore obliged to return.
The controlewr informed me that one of his
predecessors had gone on and come out again in the
plain near Fort Yan der Capellen, so that the cave is
really a tunnel, which passes completely through the
whole chain; and the distance from its mouth at
this place to the opening at its opposite end must be
at least five miles in an air line. While the natives
were in the water, and each held a blazing torch, I
ordered them to range themselves a few feet apart in
a long line. The light reflected from the changing
surface of the flowing stream beneath, and the wide
irregular rocks and stalactites above, and the dark
half-naked bodies of the natives themselves, made it
appear as if I had come into the abode of evil demons
; and this delusion became complete when one
shouted, and the rest joining in prolonged their cry
into a wild yell that echoed and reechoed again and
again, coming back to us like the answering, remorseful
shriek of hundreds of evil spirits that were imprisoned
forever deep within the bowels of the mountain.
In the inner part of the larger cave I was directed
to look up in a certain direction, when soon a long,
narrow band of yellow light gleamed from an opening,
and, darting into the cave, partially lighted up
some of the long stalactites that hung from the roof.
Then came two bright flames waving to and fro,
which showed me the forms of two natives who had
climbed up some other chamber, and had come out
through an aperture far above us into the apartment
where we were standing.
The Resident was travelling to inspect the coffee-
gardens, and would go back up the valley to Suka
Rajah, the “ Rajah’s Delight,” a large coffee-garden
in the ravine that leads up into the old crater of the
Sago. I therefore hired coolies to haul my bendy
over the mountain to Fort Van der Capellen, and
30