Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/171

slippery from the recent heavy rains. It was not until we had ascended considerably higher that we found the ground sufficiently firm and agreeable for riding. We then entered into a wilder neighbourhood, with here and there a few attap huts, perched on the slopes of the mountains. A little further on, the fields on both sides of the road were covered with European vegetables, such as peas, cabbages, beetroot, beans, artichokes, lettuces, &c.; the ground in which they grew still forming a portion of Van Rhee's plantations. Each field is surrounded by a deep ditch, about six feet in depth, called by the natives Bloombung, which serves as a fence against the predatory nocturnal incursions of wild boars. It seemed very strange to see such extensive fields of cultivated vegetables in the midst of a scene so solitary, where, except the husbandman or his labourers, few visitors are ever seen, though the locality is certainly as beautiful as any I afterwards saw in the island.