d, each terraced plot consists in some places
of many acres, in others of a few square yards. We saw them in every
state of cultivation; some in stubble, some being ploughed, some with
rice-crops in various stages of growth. Here were luxuriant patches of
tobacco; there, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, yams, beans or Indian-corn
varied the scene. In some places the ditches were dry, in others little
streams crossed our road and were distributed over lands about to be
sown or planted. The banks which bordered every terrace rose regularly
in horizontal lines above each other; sometimes rounding an abrupt knoll
and looking like a fortification, or sweeping around some deep hollow
and forming on a gigantic scale the seats of an amphitheatre. Every
brook and rivulet had been diverted from its bed, and instead of flowing
along the lowest ground, were to be found crossing our road half-way up
an ascent, yet bordered by ancient trees and moss-grown stones so as to
have all the appearance of a natural channel, and bearing testimony
to the remote period at which the work had been done. As we advanced
further into the country, the scene was diversified by abrupt rocky
bills, by steep ravines, and by clumps of bamboos and palm-trees near
houses or villages; while in the distance the fine range of mountains of
which Lombock Peak, eight thousand feet high, is the culminating point,
formed a fit background to a view scarcely to be surpassed either in
human interest or picturesque beauty.

Along the first part of our road we passed hundreds of women carrying
rice, fruit, and vegetables to market; and further on, an almost
uninterrupted line of horses laden with rice in bags or in the car, on
their way to the port of Ampanam. At every few miles along the road,
seated under shady trees or slight sheds, were sellers of sugar-cane,
palm-wine, cooked rice, salted eggs, and fried plantains, with a few
other native delicacies. At these stalls a hearty meal may be made for a
penny, but we contented ourselves with drinking some sweet palm-wine, a
most delicious beverage in the heat of the day. After having travelled
about twenty miles we reached a higher and drier region, where, water
being scarce, cultivation was confined to the little fiats bordering the
streams. Here the country was as beautiful as before, but of a different
character; consisting of undulating downs of short turf interspersed
with fine clumps of trees and bushes, sometimes the woo