d soon found ourselves in a most picturesque
village at the very base of the rock. We disturbed quite a crowd of
native girls bathing in a spring, and they seemed very much alarmed
and surprised at seeing two Europeans suddenly turn the corner. Out
of season I don't believe any one lives in this village except some
watchers at the mouths of the eaves to guard against thieves. The
Hadji gave us a rough hut with a flooring of split bamboo and kept us
provided with chickens. All this no doubt was in his estimation part
of the necessary steps to securing that much-desired Panglima-ship.

The two days we were here, people kept flocking into the village,
most of the men carrying long steel-pointed spears, in many cases
beautifully mounted with engraved silver: others carried long "parangs"
and "krises" in rough wooden sheaths, but the handles were often of
carved ivory and silver.

After some breakfast we started off to see the near lower cave, which
was one of the smaller ones. We followed a very pretty ferny track
by the side of a rocky stream for a short distance, the forest being
partially cleared and open, with large boulders scattered around. The
sky overhead was thick with swallows, in fact one could almost say
the air was black with them. These of course were the birds that make
the nests. The mouth of the cave partly prepared me for what I was to
see. I had expected a small entrance, but here it was, I should say,
sixty feet in height and of great width, the entrance being partly
overhung with a curtain of luxuriant creepers. The smell of guano
had been strong before, but here it was overpowering.

Extending inside the cave for about one hundred yards was a small
village of native huts used chiefly by the guards or watchers of
these caves. Compared with the vastness of the interior of the cave--I
believe about four hundred and eighty feet in height--one could almost
imagine that one was looking at the small model of a village. A small
stream ran out of a large hill of guano, and if you left the track you
sank over your knees in guano. The vastness of the interior of this
cave impressed me beyond words. It was stupendous, and to describe
it properly would take a better pen than mine. One could actually see
the very roof overhead, as there were two or three openings near the
top (reminding one of windows high up in a cathedral) through which
broad shafts of light forced their way, making some old hanging rattan
ladd