sole costume, and lived in a rude but raised home on lofty poles, and
abundantly decorated with human heads. Of course we were expected, and
our dinner was prepared in the best style, but I was assured that the
chiefs all take a pride in adopting European customs, and in being able
to receive their visitors in a handsome manner.
After dinner and coffee, the Controlleur went on to Tondano, and I
strolled about the village waiting for my baggage, which was coming in
a bullock-cart, and did not arrive until after midnight. Supper was very
similar to dinner, and on retiring I found an elegant little room with
a comfortable bed, gauze curtains with blue and red hangings, and every
convenience. Next morning at sunrise the thermometer in the verandah
stood at 69 , which I was told is about the usual lowest temperature at
this place, 2,500 feet above the sea. I had a good breakfast of coffee,
eggs, and fresh bread and butter, which I took in the spacious verandah
amid the odour of roses, jessamine, and other sweet-scented flowers,
which filled the garden in front; and about eight o'clock left Tomohon
with a dozen men carrying my baggage.
Our road lay over a mountain ridge about 4,000 feet above the sea, and
then descended about 500 feet to the little village of Rurukan, the
highest in the district of Minahasa, and probably in all Celebes. Here I
had determined to stay for some time to see whether this elevation would
produce any change in the zoology. The village had only been formed
about ten years, and was quite as neat as those I had passed through,
and much more picturesque. It is placed on a small level spot, from
which there is an abrupt wooded descent down to the beautiful lake of
Tondano, with volcanic mountains beyond. On one side is a ravine, and
beyond it a fine mountainous and wooded country.
Near the village are the coffee plantations. The trees are planted in
rows, and are kept topped to about seven feet high. This causes the
lateral branches to grow very strong, so that some of the trees become
perfect hemispheres, loaded with fruit from top to bottom, and producing
from ten to twenty pounds each of cleaned coffee annually. These
plantations were all formed by the Government, and are cultivated by the
villagers under the direction of their chief. Certain days are appointed
for weeding or gathering, and the whole working population are summoned
by the sound of a gong. An account is kept of the number of hours' work
done by each family, and at the year's end, the produce of the sale is
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