On Leaving Buitenzorg, I Had Coolies To Carry My Baggage And A
Horse For Myself, Both To Be Changed Every
Six or seven miles.
The road rose gradually, and after the first stage the hills
closed in a little on
Each side, forming a broad valley; and the
temperature was so cool and agreeable, and the country so
interesting, that I preferred walking. Native villages imbedded
in fruit trees, and pretty villas inhabited by planters or
retired Dutch officials, gave this district a very pleasing and
civilized aspect; but what most attracted my attention was the
system of terrace-cultivation, which is here universally adopted,
and which is, I should think, hardly equalled in the world. The
slopes of the main valley, and of its branches, were everywhere
cut in terraces up to a considerable height, and when they wound
round the recesses of the hills produced all the effect of
magnificent amphitheatres. Hundreds of square miles of country
are thus terraced, and convey a striking idea of the industry of
the people and the antiquity of their civilization. These
terraces are extended year by year as the population increases,
by the inhabitants of each village working in concert under the
direction of their chiefs; and it is perhaps by this system of
village culture alone, that such extensive terracing and
irrigation has been rendered possible. It was probably introduced
by the Brahmins from India, since in those Malay countries where
there is no trace of a previous occupation by a civilized people,
the terrace system is unknown.
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