and the methods employed by the natives for
the cultivation of rice.

[Footnote 14: In Chapter III.]

From almost any elevated point it is possible to get views of the sawahs
in the neighbourhood of Buitenzorg. The form and extent of the separate
fields divided by the water-courses vary with the nature of the country.
Each field is itself perfectly level, and is separated by as little as
half a foot, or as much as four feet, from those immediately above and
beneath it. The slopes of Gede are covered with such a series of vast
and irregular terraces. Seen from Buitenzorg the general effect is not
unlike that of the tiers of a theatre, while in the distance the
individual terraces show smooth surfaces varying in colour from emerald
green to saffron yellow, or flashing with the brightness of still and
sunlit waters.

Indeed, there is much to be seen at Buitenzorg with but little
expenditure of time or trouble. Close at hand is the Campong, or Chinese
town, with its quaint shops and busy market-place. Immediately beneath
the hotel numberless bamboo cottages crowded with Javanese peasants can
be found for the looking. They lie in the midst of groves of cocoanut
palms, hidden away almost as completely as if they were a hundred miles
instead of a hundred yards from the Belle Vue.

[Illustration: A JAVANESE COTTAGE. _Page_ 114.]

I spent one whole morning sketching a cottage which I found within a
stone's throw of the hotel. Without any ceremony, I walked into the
midst of the family circle, and seated myself under the shelter of a
wood shed. Had I known enough Malay, I should certainly have first asked
permission before I ventured upon such an intrusion, for I have found a
sketching-book an almost universal passport to civility. As it was, I
assumed an air of conscious innocence, which I trusted would soon remove
any awkward suspicions which might arise in the mind of the owner of the
house, and proceeded to unpack my sketching-traps. I then quickly
sketched in the group on the verandah, consisting of the mother and
children. Before I had finished they all ran away in alarm, and for the
next half-hour the front of the house was entirely deserted. I suppose
they made up their minds at last that I was harmless, for they gradually
came back and resumed their usual manner of life. The mother was
occupied with keeping two small children in order. Besides these, there
was a little boy and a girl. This latter was the oldest