contrary winds and chafed by conflicting currents, tosses in perpetual
turmoil, though a long jetty diminishes the former difficulties of the
stormy passage between ship and shore. In the amber light of sunset,
the dark mountain ranges stand out with unearthly clearness. The jagged
peaks of Klabat and Soedara in the background, bringing into prominence
the grey cliffs and purple ravines of the smoking Lokon. The wonderful
scenery of the Malay Archipelago seldom lacks that element of terror
which enhances the radiant loveliness of Nature by painting it on a
tragic background of storm and cloud, the vague suggestion of
evanescence intensifying the mysterious charm with poetic significance.
The receding coast discloses a striking panorama of the mountain
heights piled one upon another, the grey towers and bastions guarding
this narrowing Cape of the Minahasa, a veritable outpost of Nature,
eternally washed by the restless seas. As the steamer rounds the savage
promontories, and threads the blue straits formed by two rocky islets
at the northern extremity, the weird and desolate landscape conveys a
strange sense of separation even from the alien humanity which peoples
the far-reaching peninsula of the Minahasa, and this northern extremity
appears a limitless waste. Chaotic masses of imperishable granite,
splintered reefs thrusting black spikes through the creaming surge, and
wind-swept cliffs of fantastic form, characterise the solemn headland,
unpainted and unsung, although the sea-girt sanctuary of Nature demands
interpretation through the terms of Art and Poetry.

GORONTALO AND THE EASTERN COAST.

The steamer's first halt on the wild eastern coast of Celebes is the
gold-mining settlement of Todok, where the Company's rustic offices of
palm-thatched bamboo border an enchanting bay, with a string of green
islets studding the shoaling blue and purple of the gleaming depths.
Two passengers disembark for the ebony plantations on the slopes of a
volcanic range, declaring itself by a slight earthquake rocking the
_atap_ shanty, where the ship's officer who tallies the cargo, offers
hospitality until the fierce heat modifies sufficiently for a stroll.

A dusty and shadeless road leads up into the wooded hills which
bound the prospect, but the _campong_, largely consisting of
recently-constructed dwellings, occupied by alien employes in the
service of the Gold Syndicate, offers no inducements for exploration,
and unti