75° 



*HS tVLVPTCKL ItGTR^TJLTURtST. 



[April i , 1885, 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MALAYAN 

 PENINSULA. 



As some remarks of mine on the mountain system of 

 the Malayan Peninsula have already appeared in Nature, 

 perhaps the following summary of the results of ten months' 

 explorations in the State of Perak will be interesting. 



The State of Perak is comprised between the sea (Straits 

 of Malacca) and the main central chain which runs along 

 the centre of the peninsula. Its boundaries are, roughly 

 north, the River Krian ; south, River Bernain ; west, the: 

 ocean; east, the main central chain. The geology maybe 

 chiefly described as consisting of — 



(I.) An immense granite formation, rising into ex- 

 tremely sharp and precipitous parallel ridges having nearly 

 a meridional direction. This granite passes frequently 

 into slates and schits. The prevailing colour is blue. 



(2.) A Palaeozoic formation of slates, mottled sand- 

 stones, and clays, forming outliers or detached portions. 

 It is found most abundantly at the foot of the ranges, 

 whence it usually dips away conformably to the slopes of 

 the hills and mountains. It has evidently been subject 

 to great denudation. 



(3.) Limestone in detached outliers, or isolated hills of 

 precipitous character, showing much denudation. It is 

 stratified or crystalline. No fossils have been found yet, 

 but is probably of Palaeozoic age. From its wide exten- 

 sion throughout Perak, where it crops out in so many 

 places, it may have once covered the whole of the granite 

 and Palaeozoic clays. 



(4.) Drifts and alluvium from the ancient streams and 

 river beds. These are formed of the material from all 

 the preceding deposits. All the tin deposits of the country 

 are in these drifts. The ore occurs in a manner very 

 similar to the alluvial gold in Australia, that is to say. in 

 " leads," which are the ancient or modern river beds. 



Above these alluvial deposits there is the usual alluvial 

 surface soil, for the most part supporting a very dense 

 vegetation. 



The tin deposits hitherto found are all stream tip. No 

 lodes have yet been worked, though there are some in the 

 mountains round the sources of the Perak river. The 

 ore is almost always cassiterite in small abraded crystals. 

 It is of a peculiar blackish-gray or brown aspect. Any 

 person with a little experience would be able to dis- 

 tinguish between tin sand from Australia and that of 

 Perak. The former is rather rich in gems, such as sap- 

 phires, rubies, hyacinths, garnets, topazes, and zircons. 

 I have never seen any in Perak ; but there is a good 

 deal of fluor-spar, tourmaline, and less frequently wol- 

 fram. 



The most of the workings are on the western slopes 

 at the foot of the mountains. I cannot recall any 

 instances of mines on the eastern slopes, but the wash 

 or drift seems to have been greater on that side. 



The matrix of the tin seems to be in the upper part 

 of the granite at its junction with the Palaeozoic clays. 

 In the lower part of the clay there is also a small quant- 

 ity of tin. 



In the drift the tin is always found iu nearly the lowest 

 levels, lying in one or two strata from one foot to five 

 feet thick. It is mingled with fine drift sand and gravel. 

 Its position is, I think, due to the repeated sifting and 

 washing it has been subject to in the stream bed. But 

 as it is generally covered by from ten to thirty feet of 

 material destitute of tin, the inference is that only one 

 part of the granite was very rbh in the metal. 



The stream tin deposits lie upon (1) kaolin clay, or 

 partly decomposed granite; (2) granite; (3) Palaeozoic 

 sandstones aud clays. In the latter case the stream has 

 come from the denudation of a portion of the same strata 

 on the upper slopes of the hills. 



On the highest granite ridges, or those above 5,000 feet, 

 there is found a distinct vegetation. Three or four of the 

 genera are Australian (Melaleuca, Leptospermum, Fodo- 

 carpus, Leucopoi/on), and two of the species (Leptospermum 

 and Leucopogon) are common Australian forms. Similar 

 facts have been observed in Borneo, but I have not heard 

 that they had been observed iu the Malay peninsula. 

 Nothing of the kind is seen on the lower slopes of these 

 mountains even 100 feet below the summit. This Aus- 

 tralian flora may be the relics of an ancient flor.v, which 



once included the Eastern Archipelago. But it does not 

 appear why the species should be confined to the tops 

 of the mountains. They grow in a much warmer climate 

 in Australia. 



There are no table-lauds in Perak; the mountains are 

 all sharp ridges. There is not the slightest sign of any 

 recent upheaval of the coast line, while the evidence of 

 subsidence is equally absent. But the land is rapidly en- 

 croaching on the sea owing to the immense alluvial wash 

 brought daily from the mountains in this land of heavy 

 rain". Thus the shores are fringed with large mangrove 

 swamps which yearly extend, and the Straits of Malacca 

 form a shallow sea full of mud banks aud shoals. The 

 seas are consequently rather poor in certaiu forms of 

 marine life to which muddy sediment is unfavourable. 



Though the tin has been worked for centuries, only a 

 comparatively small portion of the country has been 

 worked out or worked at all. I consider that the deposits 

 in Perak are practically inexhaustible. The mining in- 

 dustry is almost exclusively in the hands of the Chinese, 

 who are almost the perfection of colonists for a couutry 

 like this. Malays are not good miners. Gold is found 

 associated with tin, but small, scaly, in sparing quantity, 

 and only in one or two places. 



There are only two instances known to me of the 

 occurrence of recent volcanic rocks ; one is in the Kinta 

 River Valley, the other on the western face of a small 

 group of mountains not far to the east-south-east of the 

 island of Peuang, and uear the Karau River. The rocks 

 appear to be basaltic dyes, but the thick jungle and 

 surface weathering prevented a proper examination. 



The mountain system of this native State consists of 

 detached groups of mountains which cover the west side 

 of this part of the peninsula, an almost continuous range 

 close to the sea in the Straits of Malacca. These groups 

 of mountains form parallel chains about thirty miles long, 

 with a direction a little oblique to the true meridional 

 line. Sometimes they are wholly detached groups, so as 

 to allow rivers from the eastward to pass between them. 

 Such an instance is seen in the ranges between the Kinta 

 anu Perak rivers. This group terminates to the north so 

 as to allow the River Plus to pass to the westward and 

 to the south so as to give an outlet to the Kinta. Both 

 rivers join the Perak River, which flows round another 

 group (Gunong Bubu), and then flows into the sea in the 

 Straits of Malacca. 



The islands of the coast, such as the Diudings and 

 those off the State of Keddah (Pulo Leddas, Pulo Lan- 

 kawi, and Pulo Buton, known as the Buntings), are prob- 

 ably portions of similar groups, and so are Pulo Penang 

 and the attendant islands. These groups and those on the 

 mainland usually run in sharp parallel ridges, variously 

 modified by oblique spurs, which at times connect the 

 main chains forming watersheds which throw off small 

 streams north-east and south-west. 



The following are the principal groups of mountains 

 known to me, beginning at the south : — 



Bindings Islands, — Off the coast in front of the Din- 

 dings river CDinding, Malay for boundary or partition), 

 lat. 4° 12' N., there is a series of islands of moderate 

 elevation not exceeding 1,000 feet iu their highest peaks. 

 They are granite, rich in tin, with a little fine scaly gold. 

 They are deusely clothed with jungle, and have fringing 

 reefs of coral. I have visited three or four of these 

 islands, and they are all of the same character. 



On the mainland there is a cluster of hills called the 

 F'alse Diudings, from the fact that at a short distance 

 they look like islands. These are also granitic, and tin 

 occurs in the alluvial beds derived from them. They give 

 rise to small rivers, such as the Diudings and its tribut- 

 aries. 



Gunong Bubu, — North-east of this group, but quite 

 detached from it, is a series of parallel mountain ridges 

 with a uniform trend of north-north-east. These ridges 

 are eight or ten in number. The central one is the highest, 

 culminating in Mount Bubu. a fine peak of ahout 5,600 

 feet elevation. All the ridges are granitic, with occasional 

 patches of metamorphic schists, all more or less rich in 

 tin. A remarkable character in this range is that all the 

 ridges are extremely steep, and frequently interrupted by 

 granite precipices of 1,000 feet and more. Gunong Bubu 

 is only accessible iu one or two places, the summit being 



