Travels in the East Indian archipelago

by Albert S. Bickmore

WOMAN OF THE PADANG PLATEAU.

The dress of the men here is not very different from that of the Malays of Java, but the costume of the women is remarkable. On the head is worn a long scarf, wound round like a turban, one end being allowed to hang down, sometimes over the forehead, and sometimes on one side, or on the back of the head. The upper part of the body is clothed in a baju of the common pattern, and passing over one shoulder, across the breast, and under the opposite arm is a long, bright-colored scarf. The ends of this, as well as that worn on the head, are ornamented with imitations of leaves and fruit, very tastefully wrought with gold thread. At the waist is fastened the sarong, which is not sewn up at the ends as in other parts of the archipelago. It is therefore nothing but a piece of calico, about a yard long, wound round the body, and the two ends gathered on the right hip, where they are twisted together, and tucked under, so as to form a rude knot. As the sarong is thus open on the right side, it is thrown apart higher than the knee at every step, like the statues representing the goddess Diana in hunting-costume. Their most remarkable custom, however, is distending the lobe of the ear, as seen in the accompanying cut from a photograph of one of the women at the kampong here at Fort de Kock. When young, an incision is made in the lobe, and a stiff leaf is rolled up, and thrust into it, in such a way that the tendency of the leaf to unroll will stretch the incision. When one leaf has lost its elasticity it is exchanged for another, and, in this way, the opening increases until it is an inch in diameter. This must be a very painful process, judging from the degree to which the ears of the young girls are inflamed and swollen. A saucer-shaped ornament, with a groove in its rim, is then put into the ear, exactly as a stud is put into a gentleman’s shirt-bosom. It is generally made of gold, and the central part consists of a very fine open work, so that it is very light, yet the opening in the ear continues to increase until it is frequently an inch and a half in diameter, and almost large enough for the wearer to pass one of her hands through. The front part of the loop is then only attached to the head by a round bundle of muscles, smaller than a pipe-stem, and the individual is obliged to lay aside her ornaments or have the lower part of her ears changed into long, dangling strings. While these ornaments (for it is not proper to call such a saucer-shaped article a ring) can be worn in the ear, the appearance of the native women, as seen in the cut, is like that of the other Malay women; but as soon as these ornaments are taken out, and the lobes of their ears are seen to be nothing but long loops, their appearance then becomes very repulsive. The men are never guilty of this loathsome practice. A similar habit of distending the lobe of the ear prevails in Borneo, among the Dyak women. It is also seen in all the Chinese and Japanese images of Buddha, The native women of India are accustomed to wear several small rings, not only all round in the edge of the ear, but in the nostrils. A large number of rings are shown in the ear of the cut of a Dyak or head-hunter of Borneo. Even in the most civilized lands this same barbaric idea—that a lady is made more prepossessing by having some foreign substance thrust through, and dangling from, each ear—still prevails.

After we had rested from our ride, the Resident took us through the adjoining kampong. The houses were like those already described in the Cleft. Our attention was particularly drawn to the magnificent bamboos by the roadside, many of which attain a height of forty or fifty feet.

February 24th.—The inspector, having travelled for some time, prefers to rest to-day, and as I am anxious to see the lake of Manindyu, which is some distance off our route, I avail myself of the opportunity. The Resident kindly gave me a very fine saddle-horse, and early this morning we started in a northwesterly direction for Matua. Our path at once led down from the high plateau into a series of deep valleys with perpendicular sides, composed of stratified sand and clay, formed by the disintegration and decomposition of pumice-stone. These deep valleys have been wholly formed by the action of the rapid streams which flow in their bottoms, and which, by changing their courses from one side of the valley to the other, have carried away the talus that has formed at the bases of the cliffs. These cliffs, therefore, are perpendicular, whether the valleys be wide or narrow. The strata of the sand and clay are so horizontal that we are warranted in considering them deposited in a lake of fresh or salt water. No fossils of any kind, so far as I can learn, have ever been seen in these late deposits, to determine whether they are of lacustrine or marine origin. The upper edges of the sides of these deep valleys are so sharply defined that the buffaloes, feeding on the grass-lands above, unconsciously venture too far, and of course are instantly killed by such a high fall, and, for this reason, the Dutch call them “buffalo holes.”

At several places small tributaries come in as branches to the main stream, which here flows to the northwest, and the tongue of land in the acute angle of such branches rises up like a perpendicular wall with a sharp edge. These deep valleys resemble the cañons of the Colorado, which were also formed by the erosive action of running water; but here the scenery is on a small scale compared to those deep, dark, gloomy chasms. Two or three times we climbed the zigzag path that led up the sides of one valley, and then went down again into the next valley. The bottoms of these cañons, being well watered, are admirably suited for the cultivation of rice, and here were some plats still overflowed where the rice was only a few inches high, and not far from them others, where the natives were collecting the ripe, golden blades. Such a mingling of planting the seed, and gathering in the ripe grain, appeared the more strange when I thought of our temperate climate, where we are obliged to sow at a certain time in the year or reap no harvest. The higher lands between these valleys form a plateau, which, from Fort de Kock to Matua, is very sterile when compared to the high land farther south.

From Matua our course changed to the west and lay through broad sawas filled with half-grown rice. It slowly ascended, until we found ourselves on the edge of a crater of most enormous dimensions. Thick rain-clouds gathered and began pouring down heavy showers, which obscured every thing about us, and I could only see that we stood on the edge of a vast yawning gulf. Our way now rapidly descended first to the right and then to the left, and, as I looked down into the deep abyss which we were descending, such thick vapors enveloped us that every thing was hidden from our view at the distance of a hundred yards, and it seemed as if we must be going down into the Bottomless Pit. Down and down we went, until at last I became quite discouraged, and seriously began to think of explaining to my native guide that the wisest heads which lived in my land believe that the centre of the earth is nothing but a mass of molten rock, and to inquire of him whether he was sure we should stop short of such an uncomfortable place, when the thick mist which enshrouded us cleared away, and I beheld far, far beneath me a large lake, and above me the steep, overhanging crater-wall which I had descended; but I was only half-way down, yet I had the satisfaction of knowing there was an end to the way, and, besides, the road was not so steep, and consequently not so slippery as the half we had already come. So we slipped and plodded on, and early in the afternoon I came to the residence of the controleur of that region, at the village of Manindyu, on the east side of the lake.

The height of the edge of the crater where we began to descend is thirty-six hundred feet, and that of the lake fifteen hundred and forty above the sea. The perpendicular distance that we had come down, therefore, was over two thousand feet; but to come that distance, our road had zigzagged so continually to the right and left, that we had travelled five miles. Toward evening the rain ceased, and the controleur conducted me a short distance north of the kampong to a hot spring, where the natives have a square pool for bathing, and covered it with a small house, for they ascribe all sorts of healing virtues to this warm water. I found the water to be perfectly pure to the eye, and free from any sensible escape of gas. Its temperature was 102½° Fahrenheit, and an abundance of algæ was seen on the rocks beneath its surface.

At sunset, the heavy clouds that had filled the crater during the day slowly rose upward, but not so high at first as to allow us to see the tops of the peaks in the serrated crest of the crater-wall opposite. The bright sunlight, therefore, shone in through the triangular openings between the lower surface of the level clouds, and the bottoms of the sharp valleys, and these oblique bands of golden light fell on the water at some distance from the opposite shore, and then came over the lake and illuminated the place where we sat watching this unique and magnificent view.

After the sunlight had faded, the clouds rose higher, and I could look round and behold all sides of the largest crater it has been my privilege to see, and indeed one of the largest in the world. The general height of the wall does not vary much from that point where I crossed it coming down, and is very steep, except at that place, and in many parts nearly perpendicular. It is not circular, but composed of two circles of unequal diameter, which unite on one side, and leave a tongue of land projecting from the east and west sides. Each of these circles is a crater, and the tongues of land that project from either side of the lake mark the boundaries between them. The width of the larger crater at the level of the lake, as given on the best maps I have been able to consult, is three geographical miles; that of the smaller crater, at the same level, two and a quarter miles; and the length of the lake, which lies in a northerly and southerly direction, and is approximately parallel to the great Barizan chain in which it is found, is no less than six geographical miles. These two craters, I believe, were not formed at the same time. The larger crater, which is on the north, is older, and the smaller one to the south is the later, the eruptive force which formed the larger having lost some of its power, as well as having slightly changed its position when it formed the smaller. This gigantic crater is the more interesting to us, because it is as large as the one we supposed formerly existed in the Banda Islands, when we regarded Great Banda, Pulo Pisang, and Pulo Kapal, as parts of the walls of that crater, if, as was then suggested, that crater was not circular, but nearly elliptical, like this great one of Manindyu. Even the famous crater of the Tenger Mountains becomes of moderate dimensions, when compared to this.

In the western side of the larger crater is a cleft or deep ravine that conducts the superfluous waters to the sea. This split, it may be noticed, has occurred on the side toward the sea, where, of course, the wall of the crater was thinnest and weakest. This region is considered quite valuable, because coffee-trees flourish here remarkably well. The coffee obtained is brought over the lake in boats to the mouth of the outlet, and thence transported to the village of Tiku, on the coast.