12 ON THE VEGETATION OF MALAYSIA, 



(the lower course of which separates the Peninsula from Tenas- 

 serim in British Burmah) and the rivers Muda and Krian there 

 are none but small streams. On the east side there is the Endau, 

 the Pahang with its large tributaries, the Kuantan, the Besute, 

 the Kelantan, and the Patani. The short rivers which flow 

 east and west of the dividing range have their channels 

 through marshy grounds, and their estuaries amid low man- 

 grove islands. This is a feature which affects the vegetation of 

 the region. Mangrove flats are well-marked areas in the vegetable 

 kingdom. They fringe almost all the west coast of the Peninsula 

 and a good deal of the east. They represent long periods of 

 erosion on the mountain ranges. The heavy rains have, for ages, 

 been washing away piecemeal the mountain axes of the country. 

 These have been gradually lowered, and the land extended in the 

 form of shallow mud flats of alluvium of considerable depth. The 

 marshy soil has thus encroached on the Straits of Malacca and 

 rendered them very shallow. Thus a fringe of low-lying, flat 

 mud islands lines the shores of Sumatra on one side, and the 

 west coast of the Peninsula on the other. These regions have 

 been described as unattractive, dreary places of the most un- 

 wholesome kind ; but this is erroneous. The soils are perhaps 

 the richest in the world. They are densely clothed with vegeta- 

 tion. When the tide is out they do not look attractive, but the 

 islands have a rich and picturesque beauty of their own. The 

 beautiful masses of dark green and lustrous leaves form groves of 

 ever-changing aspect, while probably the great evils of malaria 

 are mitigated by the absorbing power of these trees. When the 

 tide is in, the beautiful masses of foliage contribute most admir- 

 ably to adorn the water scenery. 



References will be made to some of the larger islands of the 

 Archipelago. To treat of them separately would exceed the 

 limits of this paper. Most of them are only partially explored, 

 that is, botanically explored, and others have but little individu- 

 ality. This region is the one above all which seems to offer the 

 greatest results to botanical research. Take for instance Borneo, 

 a country larger than England, Scotland, and Wales combined, 



