Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/203

Rh Opposite to us was the Gunong Gadong. Two-thirds of its slopes, from the base upwards, was cultivated, and some cottages were built on its sides. To the right was the Smeroe, a faint line of smoke, just discernible in the distance, issuing from its summit. The fields on all sides of the lake were cultivated, and cocoa-nut, date, bamboo, and plantain trees were to be seen near the water, which was of a sickly greenish hue, not at all inviting for a bath, though the natives' appreciation of their Danao, or Lake, seemed higher than ours, as several were disporting with great delight in it.

The Javanese have a superstitious belief that if a duck is put into this lake and swallowed by an alligator, its owner will meet with success in all that he does. Wishing to gratify ourselves with the sight of one of these formidable alligators, we ordered our importunate boatman to procure a couple of ducks. He was not long gone, when