April 20th.—Rode to Ujang Padang, a low bluff about twenty feet high, on the north side of Bencoolen Bay. It is composed of a stiff, red clay, resting on other layers of lead-colored clay, which are stratified, and contain many fossils of recent shells, a few of which appeared in the lower strata of the red clay. These fossiliferous strata probably extend for some distance north and south, but are concealed by the overlying strata of red clay, for they reappear again at the foot of a bluff between this point and Bencoolen.
From Cape Indrapura southward, a strip of low, comparatively level land borders the shore, but north of that point the ocean comes up to the bases of the hills and mountains. South of that point there are a few small islands near the shore, but north of it the sea is studded with them; and especially north of Padang there are very many shallow, dangerous coral reefs, not indicated on most maps. South of Indrapura the coast has either been elevated more than the area north of it, which has remained beneath the sea, or the northern part of the coast has been depressed, while the southern part has nearly maintained its former level. The sand and clays of which this strip of low alluvial land is composed came from the disintegration and decomposition of the rocks that form the Barizan chain. They have been transported to their present position by the many small streams that flow down the southwestern flanks of those mountains to the sea. The transporting power of a stream depends, of course, chiefly on its volume, and the rapidity with which it flows. A glance at the maps of Sumatra will show that the larger streams are north of Cape Indrapura. Again, as the streams south of that point flow, for a part of their course, through level lands, they are not as rapid as those north of it, which empty at once into the sea, without making a circuitous or zigzag course through the alluvial lands, or deltas, which they themselves have formed.
April 21st.—Commenced my overland journey on horseback, the only mode of travelling in this region. Our company to-day consists of the Resident, a rajah, and many attendants; and we have come here to Suban, to look at the deposits of coal in this vicinity. From Bencoolen to Taba Pananjong, at the foot of the Barizan, the road is nearly level, being over the strip of low land that we followed along the Bencoolen River, having the sharply-pointed Sugar-Loaf Mountain on our right, until we came to a second pointed hill belonging to the same eruptive formation. In one place we saw the recent tracks of an elephant, and the natives, who are good judges, think they were probably made yesterday. Soon after, a spot was pointed out to me where, not long before, were found fragments of the clothing, and a part of the body of a native, who, while travelling along this, the most frequented road in this region, had been torn to pieces by the tigers. Near by is a rude trap for these destructive beasts. It consists of a small place, enclosed by a paling, with two large trees placed horizontally, the one above the other, so that when the tiger puts his head between them to seize the kid within the paling, the upper beam falls on him and holds him fast by its great weight. The natives then, hearing his roaring, come up and quickly dispatch him with their lances. When eighteen paals (about seventeen miles) from Bencoolen, we left the main road, which is well built, and followed a narrow footpath for six paals over a succession of small ridges that jut out from the main coast-chains. They were so near together that we were continually either scrambling down a steep declivity to the bottom of a little valley, or climbing up the opposite side. The soil is a red clay, like that noticed in the cliffs at Ujang Padang, and has been formed by the decomposition of the volcanic rocks which it covers. Heavy showers have occurred in this vicinity to-day, and descending or ascending these declivities is very difficult. It would be dangerous to travel here with any but these active and sure-footed ponies. With men on their backs they will climb up places that our horses at home, which are accustomed to level roads, would not like to ascend alone. In certain spots along this path were many piles of the excrements of elephants, where they came to feed on the branches of young trees. Half an hour before sunset we arrived here, at Suban, a village of four houses, and were glad to rest and take some food after a very fatiguing day’s journey. Near by is a large stony brook, where I have enjoyed a refreshing bath in the cool, clear mountain-stream.
April 22d.—Early this morning we walked about half a mile up the stream, making our way over the huge boulders in its bed. Soon we came to strata of coal, associated with layers of clay and sandstone. I was searching particularly for a limestone mentioned by Van Dijk, who has examined the geology of this region, as being of the same age as the coal, and containing fossils of a recent period. Not finding it in this direction, I returned and continued down the stream for half a mile, crossing from side to side over the slippery rocks and through the torrent until the banks became high, perpendicular walls, and the water was deeper than the waist.
Finding I could proceed no farther without a raft of bamboo, I returned a quarter of a mile, ascended the steep bank, and followed down the stream for about a mile, but could not find any outcropping of the rock I was seeking. When I reached Suban again, I felt a peculiar smarting and itching sensation at the ankles, and found my stockings red with blood. Turning them down, I found both ankles perfectly fringed with blood-suckers, some of which had filled themselves until they seemed ready to burst. One had even crawled down to my foot, and made an incision which allowed the blood to pour out through my canvas shoe. All this day we have suffered from these disgusting pests. Our horses became quite striped with their own blood, and a dog that followed us looked as if he had run through a pool of clotted gore before we reached the highway again. Of all the pests I have experienced in the tropics, or in any land, whether mosquitoes, black flies, ants, snakes, or viler vermin, these are the most annoying and disgusting. There is something almost unendurable in the thought that these slimy worms are lancing you and sucking out your life-blood, yet the Resident informs me that he has travelled many times through the forests in this region when these animals were far more numerous and tormenting than they have been to-day. Sometimes he has known them to drop from the leaves upon the heads and into the necks of all who chanced to pass that way.
Returning two paals toward the highway, we took a path through a magnificent forest in a more easterly direction, for about the same distance, to Ayar Sumpur, a brook where the coal again appears on its sides and in its bed. The layers seen at Suban were not more than two or three feet thick, but here they are from six to ten. Between this place and Suban coal again outcrops on the banks of the Kamuning. In all these places it is near the surface, being only covered with a few feet of red clay. That at Ayar Sumpur appears decidedly better than that found near Siboga.[57] From this place to where the coal could be taken down the Bencoolen River is a distance of only four Java paals. From there it could be transported to Bencoolen on bamboo rafts, the distance by the river being twenty-six and a half paals. The enormous quantity found here is estimated at over 200,000,000 cubic yards. The quantity and the quality of this deposit will make it of value, in case the government owning this part of the island should have its supply from Europe cut off by a war, but the disadvantage of not having a good roadstead at Bencoolen, where this coal could be taken on board vessels, renders it doubtful whether it would be found profitable to work this mine, except in case of great emergency, and then it might be found preferable to bring it from Borneo. Coal is also found at Dusun Baru, in the district of Palajou, on the banks of the Ketaun River, in the district of Mokomoko, and again in the district of Indrapura. At all these places it agrees in its mineral characteristics and outcrops very regularly at a distance of about ten miles from the sea-coast. About five miles farther inland, at Bukit Sunnur and at Suban, another and superior kind of coal appears, which maybe somewhat older than the former. This latter coal agrees in its mineral characteristics with that found a few miles east of the lake of Sinkara. All the coal in the vicinity of Suban is near the surface, sometimes only covered with four or five feet of red clay. Any private company who would like to work this mine would receive every assistance from the general and local governments.
On our return from Agar Sumpur we noticed the tracks of a rhinoceros, tiger, and deer, which had all passed along that way last night. In the path, from place to place, the natives had made pits eight or ten feet long, and about three wide and five or six deep. Each was covered over with sticks, on which dirt was laid, and dry leaves were scattered over the whole so as to perfectly conceal all appearance of danger. It is so nearly of the proportions of the rhinoceros, for whom it is made, and so deep, and the clay in which it is made is so slippery, that he generally fails to extricate himself, and the natives then dispatch him with their spears. The Resident tells me that the natives have also killed elephants by watching near a place where they come often to feed, and when one is walking and partly sliding down a steep declivity they spring up behind him and give a heavy blow with a cleaver on the after-part of the hind-legs, six or eight inches above the foot, but that this dangerous feat is very rarely attempted.
Reaching the main road, we soon arrived at Taba Pananjong. All the kampongs in this region are small, frequently consisting of only eight or ten houses, but they are all very neat and regularly arranged in one row on each side of the road, which is usually bordered with a line of cocoa-nut-trees. The natives are called Rejangs, and form a distinct nation from the Malays of Menangkabau. They have an alphabet and language peculiar to themselves, but belong to the same Malay race as all the others in the island of Sumatra. In order that I might see them dance, the Resident invited the rajah to come to the house of the controleur in the evening and bring with him the “anak gadis,” literally “the virgins,” of the village, but really the unmarried females. They were all clad in a sarong, fastened high round the waist, and over the shoulders was thrown a sort of scarf, which was so folded that one end would hang down behind, between the shoulders. Their dance consisted in little more than stretching both arms back until the backs of the hands nearly touched each other, and holding the edges of the scarf between the fingers. This peculiar figure they take in order to give their busts the fullest appearance possible, and captivate some one of the young men looking on. From this position they changed their hands to near the shoulders, the arms being extended and the forearms being turned back toward the head. The hands were then twisted round, with the wrist for a pivot.
Several young men appeared quite charmed and eagerly joined in the dance. The postures they assumed were quite similar. It is on such festive occasions that marriage contracts are generally made. The price of a bride, jujur, is fixed by the Dutch Government at twenty guilders, eight Mexican dollars, that is, the parents cannot now recover more than that sum for their daughter in case their son-in-law is unwilling to pay a larger sum. When the English were here in the beginning of this century, the jujur was as high as a hundred or a hundred and twenty dollars. Some of the “virgin children” I noticed had reached middle age, but the rajah explained to me that no man is willing to part with his daughters at a less price than the twenty guilders his neighbor receives for each of his, for fear of appearing to acknowledge that he thought his neighbor’s daughters were more fascinating than his own; and a young man, being obliged to pay the same sum for any bride, of course chooses one who, according to his fancy, possesses the greatest charms, and no one who is not young is supposed to be charming.
Another common mode of marrying among these people is termed umbil anak, “taking a child.” A father chooses a husband for his daughter and takes the young man to live in his family. When this young man can pay a certain sum to the father, he removes his wife and family to his own house, but until that time he and his family are regarded as servants or debtors. As tokens of their virginity, the anak gadis wear silver on their forearms, and broad bands of silver on their wrists. In the Lampong country to the south, instead of small, solid rings, they wear large rings made of hollow tubes, sometimes in such a number as to cover both arms from the wrist to the elbow. Here they occasionally have silver chains on their necks, and in their ears ornaments somewhat similar in form to those worn in the Menangkabau country, but much smaller, and the part that passes through the ear is no larger than a quill. These natives also make many fine imitations of fruit and flowers in silver, like those of the Padang plateau. Their sarongs and scarfs they manufacture themselves, and ornament very skilfully with figures and leaves wrought in with silver-thread.