Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/229

 A STEEP AND SLIPPERY ROAD. 213

who immediately lit some fagots, and made the best fire he could to warm and chy us. As the fire was on the ground in the middle of the floor, we seated ourselves close to it. The poor natives also crouching near it for warmth, we looked like a group of Maories holding a council of war.

When the rain began to clear off a little, we started again. The road now being very steep and slij)pery, we could not proceed quite so rapidly as before, but we urged our horses forward, determin- ing not to lose more time en route than we could help ; for we felt thoroughly chilled by the cold, which, in conse(pience of the rain, and our being tlicn about eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, was very severe.

As we ap])roachcd the Dieng we could see, on the level ytlain below, Wonosobo, and the district of Bagelang. As the lofty chain of Brambanan, with their summits undistinguishable amid the (t](>uds, rose Ijcfore us, the mountain peaks hid

�� �