its course, is only a small stream witli slight falls at
short distances. The valley south of Kopaiyong
may he quite wide, hut we soon passed into such a
dense jungle that I was unahle to obtain any view
of the mountains on either hand. Kahan Agong is
a small kampong of twenty or twenty-five houses,
and, except the two or three occasionally seen near
each other in the cleared places, or ladangs, the
whole country is an unbroken wilderness.
The houses of the village were quite regularly
arranged in two rows, and in the middle of the street
between them is a small circular house, with open
sides, and seats around it for the coolies, who are
travelling to and fro, to stop and rest under a shelter
from the sunshine. Here the rajah received me, and
brought such fruits as his people raised. The coolie,
who marched beside my horse, carried my Spencer’s
breech-loader, which I had been careful to have
ready loaded and capped. It caused the natives to
manifest the greatest respect for us, especially when
m y servants declared that I needed only to put it to
my shoulder, pull the trigger, and there would be a
constant stream of bullets. From Kaban Agong to
Tanjong Agong (eight paals) we passed over a more
open and hilly country. The road here diverged
from the left bank of the Musi, and took a more easterly
course. Here more sawas appeared, but the
people are in great poverty. Many of the hills are
covered with the common rank prairie-grass, which
we saw covering large areas in the northwest part
of the Mandeling Valley, and in many other places.
In such open prairies the sun poured down a most
scorching heat, and even my Malay attendants complained
bitterly; indeed, I find I can bear such
excessive heat better than they. From the tops
of the low hills I enjoyed fine views of the Barizan
or coast chain. The outline of many of its peaks
shows that they were formerly eruptive cones, but
now they are more or less washed down or changed
in form by rains and streams. As we came near this
village, Tanjong Agong, the road was filled with the
tracks and excrements of a herd of elephants that
passed this way yesterday or the day before. Two
days ago two of these beasts came into the sawas,
near this place, and the natives succeeded in shooting
one. Tanjong Agong is a small village, of only
eighteen or twenty small houses, each of which is
placed .on posts six or eight feet high. A ladder leads
up to a landing, which is enclosed by a fence and a
gate, to prevent the tigers from entering their houses.
The natives keep hens, and would have dogs, but they
are all destroyed by the tigers. These ravenous beasts
infest the whole region in such numbers, and are so
daring, that the rajah, who can speak Malay very well,
assures me that, during last year, jwe of the people
of this little village were torn to pieces by them
while working in the sawas, or while travelling to
the neighboring kampongs. Ho native here ever
thinks of going even the shortest distance by night,
except when sent on the most urgent business; and
it is chiefly for this reason that I always commence
my day’s journey so early.
The house in which I lodge is built of bamboo,
and surrounded with a paling of sharpened stakes,