. Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra . edcone of the Sumatran Merapi, violentlj eruptiveas recently as 1876, but now tranquilly puffing itspipe of peace. At one point where the valleyfloor widens into a considerable basin, there is apretty waterfall some eighty feet high, the AyerMantjoer. Unfortunately the road has beenbuilt of necessity in such a way as to hide fromgeneral view a large part of this fall. About three hours from Padang we reached thejunction of the two branches of the railway, onecontinuing north to Fort de Kock, and beyond i
. Java and her neighbours; a traveller's notes in Java Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra . edcone of the Sumatran Merapi, violentlj eruptiveas recently as 1876, but now tranquilly puffing itspipe of peace. At one point where the valleyfloor widens into a considerable basin, there is apretty waterfall some eighty feet high, the AyerMantjoer. Unfortunately the road has beenbuilt of necessity in such a way as to hide fromgeneral view a large part of this fall. About three hours from Padang we reached thejunction of the two branches of the railway, onecontinuing north to Fort de Kock, and beyond in aneasterly direction to Pajakombo, the other turn-ing to the south-east, skirting the shores of LakeSingkarah and bringing up at Sawah Loento, theterminal from which the products of the greatOembilin coal-fields find their way to the known deposits of these coal-fields are esti-mated at over two hundred million tons, and theannual output is already in excess of a third of amillion. Lake Singkarah is said to be very beau- 9350 and 7925 feet high respectively. 9393 feet THE PADANG HIGHLANDS 307 tiful, and not far beyond it, from a high point inthe vicinity of the village of Pajo, there is said tobe one of the finest views in the whole Insulinde. At Padang-Pandjang, our junction station, it wasfor the first time possible to realize that we werein Sumatra, and not merely somewhere in Malaya,for here we had our first sight of somethingunmistakably and indisputably Sumatran,—theextraordinary homed house of the from its horned houses (of which I shall haveconsiderable to say later), and its reputation as therainiest place in the Dutch East Indies, there isnothing to commend this settlement of less thantwo thousand people to the attention of the travel-ler. The village is 2400 feet above the sea. Beyond this point it is a ride of but thirteenmiles to Fort de Kock. For three-quarters of anhour the tracks continue to climb on the rackrail to the summi
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