The Road Is Divided Into Regular Stages Of Ten Or Twelve Miles
Each, And, Without Sending On In Advance To Have Coolies Ready,
Only This Distance Can Be Travelled In A Day.
At each station
there are houses for the accommodation of passengers, with
cooking-house and stables, and six or
Eight men always on guard.
There is an established system for coolies at fixed rates, the
inhabitants of the surrounding villages all taking their turn to
be subject to coolie service, as well as that of guards at the
station for five days at a time. This arrangement makes
travelling very easy, and was a great convenience for me. I had a
pleasant walk of ten or twelve miles in the morning, and the rest
of the day could stroll about and explore the village and
neighbourhood, having a house ready to occupy without any
formalities whatever. In three days I reached Moera-dua, the
first village in Rembang, and finding the country dry and
undulating, with a good sprinkling of forest, I determined to
remain a short time and try the neighbourhood. Just opposite the
station was a small but deep river, and a good bathing-place; and
beyond the village was a fine patch of forest, through which the
road passed, overshadowed by magnificent trees, which partly
tempted me to stay; but after a fortnight I could find no good
place for insects, and very few birds different from the common
species of Malacca. I therefore moved on another stage to Lobo
Raman, where the guard-house is situated quite by itself in the
forest, nearly a mile from each of three villages.
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