, not only on account of native incompetence, but from
dangers caused by constant geographical changes on this volcanic soil,
where rivers suddenly alter their course, and earthquakes obstruct the
way with yawning chasms or heaps of debris. A paternal Government
provides the traveller with a half-way house, erecting a large hotel at
Maos, with uniform rates, entirely for the benefit of the passenger by
rail. Trains are built on the American plan, stations are spacious and
airy, refreshments easily secured, and every halting-place offers an
_embarras de richesses_ in the shape of tropical fruits, wherewith to
supplement or replace the solidity of the Dutch commissariat. Coffee
and tea plantations in ordered neatness, contrast with the untamed
profusion of forest vegetation, clothing sharp promontory and shelving
terrace. Dusky villages cling like birds' nests to ledges of rock,
screw-palms with airy roots frame mountain tarns, and a Brazilian
Emperor-palm, with smooth column bulging into a pear-shaped base,
accentuates the sunset glory from a crag crowned by the black canopy
of colossal fronds. The Preanger Regency was the heart of ancient
Mataram, that historic kingdom of old-world Java round which perpetual
warfare waged for centuries.

Language and customs change as we cross the saddle between the blue
peaks of Salak and Gedeh; gay crowds bring fruits to picturesque
wayside markets, bearing bamboo poles laden with golden papaya and
purple mangosteen, or plaited baskets containing the conglomerate
native cuisine. The elastic and gracefully-modelled figures of the
Soendanese populace betoken a purer race than that of the steamy
Batavian lowlands, where foreign elements deteriorate the native stock.
The Hotel Victoria at Soekaboemi consists of detached white buildings
round tree-filled courts, erected on the "pavilion system." Every two
visitors occupy a tiny bungalow of two bedrooms, opening on a spacious
verandah divided by a screen, and each section provided with lamp,
rocking-chair, and tea-table, the long public dining hall being
approached by a covered alley. The rain, swishing down through the
night in torrents and cataracts, clears at sunrise, and though heavy
clouds still veil the heights of Salak, the transparent beauty of the
morning crystallises the atmosphere, and sharply defines every feature
of the landscape. The country roads, shaded by towering palms and
fruit-laden mangos, glow with a continuous process