an
appanage of his power.

The hothouse atmosphere of Padang is gladly exchanged for the freshness
of the mountain heights, approached by a cog-wheel railway, and
affording truer pictures of Sumatran life than the hybrid port of the
steaming Lowlands. The luxuriant verdure of the swampy plain basks in
the sunshine of a blazing March day, and children in gaudy _sarongs_
drive a brisk trade at palm-thatched wayside stations, with bamboo
trays of sliced pineapple sprinkled with capsicum, the approved
"pick-me-up" of Sumatra. The little train burrows through a
forest-lined pass, and skirts the chafing waters of the Anei river,
foaming over swarthy boulders. The turbulent stream, now deeply sunk
between granite cliffs, rises with terrific violence when lashed by the
wild mountain wind known as the _bandjir_, and rushes up the rocky
walls, overthrowing bridges, and dragging along immense crags with
resistless impetus. The shrill laughter of the black bush-apes echoes
from sombre masses of matted foliage, as the train ascends the lofty
range, and curves round the basin of a sparkling waterfall, dashing
from a fern-draped height. Granite cliffs soar above tropical jungle
and solemn forest; the narrow gap of the Anei widens into a luxuriant
valley; sago-palms rustle in the breeze, and tree-ferns spread their
green canopies over the brawling river. The splendid scenery is viewed
to advantage from a platform of the foremost railway carriage, the
train being pushed up the mountains by an engine in the rear. Beyond
the climbing forests, a bare plateau affords a glimpse of ever-burning
Merapi, with wooded flanks and lava-strewn summit, from whence a grey
cloud of smoke mounts in a spiral curl to the azure sky. Beyond this
point of view lies the green plain of beautiful Fort de Kock, the gem
of the Sumatran Highlands, to be numbered henceforth among those ideal
scenes which remain permanently photographed on mind and memory. The
crystalline atmosphere seems the very breath of life after a long
sojourn in the steaming tropics, and Fort de Kock, under the shadow of
mysterious Merapi, an Elysium of health and repose. The little Hotel
Jansen offers clean and comfortable accommodation, the kindly German
hostess proving a model landlady. As a Residency and the headquarters
of a Dutch garrison. Fort de Kock provides all the necessaries of life,
and the broad military roads of the vicinity simplify exploration. The
little white settlement b