Allang grass (Imperata Allang), or narrow shingles of cut bamboo, and with a flooring raised two or three feet above the level of the soil. The beautiful yellow wicker-work is usually stained in alternate squares of so black a colour that the walls of a Javanese hut resemble nothing so much as a gigantic draught-board. Under the eaves of the dwelling, which project five or six feet, and is supported in front upon poles, so that there is a sort of verandah beneath, are suspended cages with various feathered inhabitants, which the Javanese cherish with much tenderness, or else a very peculiarly constructed bee-hive, consisting of a bamboo-cane, six or nine inches thick by three or four feet in length, which is split through the centre, hollowed out, and fastened together again on the upper side.
Through a small orifice left in front, this artificial cavity is within a week or two peopled with a swarm of tiny stingless bees (Meliporia minuta) which in the wild state inhabit the holes and cavities of the calcareous cliffs, and provide the Javanese with honey and wax. The latter product is blackish, slimy, and adhesive, and is employed in the delineation of the beautifully coloured figures in the gowns (Sarongs) of the native women.
Javanese Bee-hive.
At the station of Tjianjawar, we were saluted, while changing horses, by a Javanese chief, from Tjiangoer, named Radben Rangga Padma Negara, who, despite the tremendous tropical rains, accompanied us on horseback in his rich uniform, overlaid with gold lace, as far as Tjipannas, where we were received by two government officials, and welcomed with the utmost cordiality. Here it was arranged we were to pass the night, so as, early the following morning, to make the ascent of Gunung Pangerango. We also found awaiting us a letter from Dr. Junghuhn, the renowned geologist and writer on the natural history of Java, who for years has resided about a day's journey from Tjipannas, at Lembang, at the foot of Tankuban-Prahu, and has latterly been engaged by government to superintend the china-plant cultivation. Dr. Junghuhn had come to meet us as far as Tjipodas, where the first attempts at cultivation of the china plant were being made with roots imported from South America, but, owing to a press of important business, was compelled to return to his own station before we reached the Preanger Regencies. This estimable German gentleman urgently besought us, by letter, to visit him in his forest abode, and painted in the most glowing colours the wonders of Nature, and the interest in a scientific point of view of his mighty mountain neighbour. At the same time he sent over his learned assistant, Dr. de Vrij, to welcome in his name the Austrian travellers, to explain to them in all their detail the Cinchona-plantations at the foot of Pangerango, and to
enlighten them as to the present condition and prospects of this very important branch of cultivation.
On the morning of 15th May we set off on horseback for the Pangerango, which was covered with dense vapours, which wholly concealed it from view, and rather damped our hopes of enjoying a fine view from the summit. A path for horses has been made to the very top, and although at certain points this passes over exceedingly steep ground, yet the Javanese horses climb with such safety and dogged perseverance, even in the most dangerous spots, that one may leave these small but powerful animals to choose their way, with as much confidence as in the case of that most sure-footed of animals, the mule of South America. Our cavalcade consisted of thirty riders, while an immense number of natives took on themselves the duties of an honorary body-guard. The forests, usually so lonely, were now alive with hundreds of men, busy transporting our horses, provisions, couches, tables, and stores, which were all to be conveyed to the highest peak of the mountain, where we intended to spend the evening. After we had attained a considerable distance from Tjipannas, constantly ascending till we were about 4000 feet above it, we found the flanks of the mountain quite free of wood. The traveller sees a few villages scattered at random, and rides over grass pasturages, on which are feeding troops of buffalos, alternating with plantations of tobacco or coffee. But at the very point where the forest gradually begins, where gigantic trees have been left standing like so many
sentinels, there it is that the amazed European falls in with most luxuriant beds of artichokes and strawberries, and is welcomed on this distant soil by all the well-known fruits of his remote home. The path leads past Tjipodas, into a deep narrow valley, overgrown with the most luxuriant vegetation, and thence through a forest of indescribable majesty, filled with the straight, tapering, pillar-shaped trunks, 80 to 100 feet in height, of the imposing Rasamala (Liquidambar-Altingiana), and a thoroughly tropical underwood of wild Musaceæ, and splendid tree-ferns, till finally the broad plateau-shaped Tjiburum (red-water) is reached. Here at an elevation of 5100 feet we found some Pasanggrahans, or resting-houses, erected by government for the shelter and accommodation of all travellers through these mountain solitudes, who may happen to be surprised by night, or inclement weather. Such hostelries are found everywhere in the interior of Java, especially in those districts where they are most likely to be needed by European travellers, or by government employés, during their frequent tours of inspection, in which they occasionally undergo severe privations. At Tjiburum, lying far above the regions inhabited by man, there is a small nursery of useful plants of colder climes, bearing ample testimony to the indefatigable activity of Mr. Teijsmann of Buitenzorg, to whom the community is moreover chiefly indebted for the laying out of the entire road to the summit of the mountain. As there was every indication of a severe storm coming on, and as we hoped by pressing forward
to get to our goal before it should burst, we halted here only long enough to change horses. This done we again resumed the ascent, much refreshed by the delay, which imparted renewed vigour to climb the steep zig-zag pathway, which now led through a gloomy, silent forest, whence not a sound issued except the blowing of our cattle, as they breasted the steep, and far below us the hollow roar of the mountain brook, which swept through the valley beneath. We then found ourselves approaching nearer and nearer to some resounding torrent, which went on increasing, till to our amazement we suddenly perceived amid the keen cool mountain breezes a smoking cascade of hot water!! (Tji-olok, or Sulphur spring). This warm spring, with a temperature of 113° Fahr., which even at its source forms a tolerable-sized brook, issues with much spluttering from a trachytic rock close by the way-side, and rushes, brawling and foaming, down a narrow defile, overgrown with splendid tree-ferns, and which is crossed by means of a slight rustic bridge. Scarcely is it possible to conceive a richer landscape, recalling as it were the primeval days of earth in all the luxuriance of Nature in the flush of youth, than this forest of tree-ferns, enveloped in clouds of warm vapour, which rise from this volcanic spring, close alongside of a clear, cold mountain torrent, which just here leaps into the same chasm! This hot spring thus early indicates the presence of volcanic fires, which is further evidenced by a tract of volcanic débris, over which it is necessary to clamber, and which has been