THE JOHOEE SURVEY. 169 



derives its name from the most important mountain in it, 

 Grunong Blumat. North-east of the Blumat range is the 

 Tenang range, and north-west of this the Ophir range, 

 which lies partly in Johore and partly in Penang. 



The territory of Johore, and indeed most of the Peninsula, 

 is at present only cultivated for a few miles inland from the 

 coast. Here and there clearings are found, and settlements 

 cultivated by Chinese or by Malays less civilized than those 

 in the coast towns ; but the rest of the country is covered 

 by one vast jungle, extending from Johore to far beyond the 

 confines of Siam, where at length severer climatic con- 

 ditions begin to tell upon and to restrict the rankness of 

 vegetable growth. 



About the foot of the various mountain chains, and 

 occasionally in the jungle, tracks of morass and swamp are 

 met with, which present great difficulties to the progress of 

 surveyors. 



The temperature ra^nges from about 78° to 90°, but stands 

 generally about 85° during the day, all the year round. 

 There is no defined rainy season ; the months which are wet 

 one year may be dry the next. It rains nearly every day, 

 and thunder-storms are frequent and violent. The climate 

 is very malarious. Nearly every one suffers, sooner or later, 

 from fever, which thins out the coolie population on the 

 plantations to an enormous extent, the ravages of malaria 

 being seconded by the poorness of their food and their 

 indifference to exposure. 



The inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula are various, the 

 bulk of them being Chinese. Next in point of number come 

 the Malays, of various kinds. There are also a number of 

 Klings and Tamils from the south-east coast of India. 



The natives of the western and central portion of the 

 Archipelago, including parts of Sumatra, as also the in- 



