Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/385

] Before we arrived at Sonda Kari, we had observed large plantations of indigo. This article is principally cultivated in Java by the Chinese, who have a much more extensive acquaintance with the arts than the natives.

We saw likewise several fields in which the ricinus communis was cultivated, from the seeds of which the Javanese extract a kind of lamp-oil.

This plain contains also a few plantations of maize, sugar canes, and the holcus sorghum.

We spent the night in a very neat house, built of bamboo, which stood close by that of the Deman.

14th. On the following day we baited at the west extremity of the same village upon lands under the jurisdiction of the Tomogon of Banguil, who, though he resided at the distance of more than 7,500 toises from thence, came early in the morning to give orders to the inhabitants to provide for our safety, and furnish us with whatever eatables we might want.

The Tomogon was a man of much good sense, spoke the Dutch language very well, and had a competent knowledge of the affairs of Europe. He was a Chinese by birth, but had embraced the Mahometan religion in order to obtain the title of Tomogon.

We were extremely fatigued with the journey