Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/279

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THE KALI-KONTO.
261

The air became very chilly as we neared the end of our journey, but it was fortunately very clear, and free from damp. Through dense masses of foliages, the Kali Konto is often seen on the route, as it runs in a zig-zag direction for many miles, sometimes close to our horses' feet, dashing against spars of wood in its rapid course, or falling with loud-toned music on shelving rocks and broken slabs of stone. It was also occasionally seen far away in the hollow of some ravine. Numbers of rustic bridges, of simple construction, made principally of bamboo, each with a roof or covering of attap, are thrown across the river, and are supported by bamboo poles and fern trees in quite a primitive method.

At Kodongbiroe we stopped to change ponies, and then proceeded to Tretes, a village of scattered huts, in a narrow valley formed by two hills, and covered with vegetation. Ferns in almost every variety are here seen in abundance by the road--