the Tji-Tangkil, where, in close proximity to the dykes of trachyte, several well-preserved conchylia were found amid the rubbish that had been detached from the sides of this cavity, which are composed of a sort of muddy tufa. After riding at full speed through a thinly-inhabited mountain district, in order to avoid an impending thunder-storm, we luckily reached the little mountain village of Gunung-Alu, lying on the Tji-Dadass, at the foot of a mountain ridge, which forms the water-shed between the northern and southern coasts of Java.
"On 21st May we set off for the valley of the Tji-Lanang, which stretches beneath the steep sandstone acclivities of the Gunung Sela, another spot where petrifactions are exceedingly abundant, and where the remains of the fossils may be observed in the position they originally occupied, imbedded in the strata of mud and sandstone. A species of fossil resin is also frequently found there, in juxtaposition with other beautiful fossils. From this point we followed the valley of the Tji-Lanang in a northerly direction, and on quitting it we came upon a little traversed road leading to the valley of the Tji-Tjamotha, at the calcareous-brecciose rocks of Batu-Kakapa, and still further on reached the mountainous village of Tji-Jabang, whence we descended once more to the river Tji-Tarum, which at this point passes through a narrow cleft in the rock, more than a thousand feet deep, forming thus the grandest waterfall in Java, as it breaks through the western barrier range of the plateau
of Bandong, consisting of porphyritic green-stone, trachytic-basalt, and perpendicular cliffs of chalk. Below this, after a series of splendid cascades, it becomes a navigable stream, flowing gently over the terrace of Radjamandala.
"The majestic scale of the natural scenery of Java is seen fully developed in these savage, awful rocky defiles, shaded by primeval forest, and haunted by every description of wild animal. There are three points of special interest, Tjukang-Raon, Tjuruk-Almion, and Sangjang-Holut, at any of which one may study in the very bowels of the earth the geognostical structure of the Lanang chain, where the river has burst through. These points lie quite near to each other on the edge of the stream which here frets in its channel, hemmed closely by the rocks, but in order to reach any one of them it is always necessary to retrace one's steps to the village of Tji-jabang, on the plateau of the mountain, and thence scramble down and up again the precipitous rocky wall in height from 1000 to 1600 feet! One can readily believe what Junghuhn writes in 1854, that 'although Tjurak-Almion' (dust or vapour fall) 'is the grandest waterfall in Java, no European had, as yet, visited the spot but himself.' It was here especially that we had occasion to notice what pains the natives had taken to render the various localities more accessible. We found fresh-hewn steps, ladders, and Rotang ropes, and thus we were enabled, so to speak, to tread in the footsteps of Junghuhn.
"On the 21st we could only visit the Tjuruk-Baon,
where the Tji-Tarum, raging along in its entire volume, is compelled to pass through a gate of rock not above 12 feet wide. A frail-looking bamboo ladder, with Rotang ropes suspended on either side at a dizzy elevation above, leads down the perpendicular walls of this stone portal.
"On the morning of the 22nd we visited Tjuruk-Almion, the finest waterfall of the Tji-Tarum, which is here precipitated over a precipice of green-stone forty feet in height, and thence, after passing the steep basaltic chain of Gunung-Lanang, we descended from a height of 2653 Paris feet, into the deepest part (990 Paris feet above sea-level) of the chasm formed by volcanic eruption in the mountain Sangjang-Holut, where close to the steep broken rim, and in juxtaposition to the tertiary formations on the level of Radjamandala, the perpendicular sandstone banks of the river leave a passage only 10 feet in width.
"The same day we reached the little village of Gua, at the foot of the northern side of Gunung Nungnang, an enormous mass of limestone, whose steep sides form a portion of the extensive limestone barrier, which bounds the table-land of Radjamandala to the southward. Gunung Nungnang is traversed by fissures and clefts from top to bottom, in which the Salangan swallow builds edible nests, which the natives gather for the Regent, not without peril to life.
"On the 23rd May we carefully explored Sangjang Tji-Koro, a limestone-hill, through which one arm of the Tji-Tarum,
after it has burst through the barrier-ridge, flows in a subterranean channel; interesting in a geological point of view, because at this point we find the very same limestone rocks which in an upright position form the structure of the hill, lying horizontally on the flat plain of Radjamandala, on the opposite bank of this brook. At Radjamandala we once more struck the main road, and found our travelling chaise ready, which conveyed us to Tjiandjur, and thence back to Batavia."