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Dotted over the flat country of Perlis and Setul are large isolated 
hills of limestone looking like islands in the flat plain of heath an 
rice-field ; and islands they have been not long ago according to the 
Malays; this too is shown by their containing caves full of sea- 
bird guano. These seabirds have long gone; one sees none even 
about the sea. Round these limestone hills run rivers, and pools of 
water lie at the base where the rivers are not, and at Setul the 
vegetation at the base consists of Acrostichum aureum, Acanthus 
ebracteatus, Pandani, Barringtonia, tidal Ficus. It is clear that 
this land is of modern formation and that the south of the peninsula, 
from near Kedah Peak southwards, was cut off from the Siamese 
States by sea. Kedah Peak I have reason to believe itself was an 
island at one time. A big chain of limestone hills rising to 
2,000 feet runs from the north to the sea at Perlis, dividing Setul 
from Perlis. These limestone hills have a very homogeneous flora 
of which Cycas siamensis, Impatiens mirabile, Dracaena cordylinoides, 
Adiantum—gomphophyllum I think, Euphorbia trigona, Hapaline, © 
Amorphophallus haematospadiz an . carnea, Calanthe rubens, 
Eulophia Keithii, Chirita Viola are characteristic. We found another 
balsam, but only two plants in flower, one with one flower only. 
is very succulent, and when we tried to bring it home alive, dried 
up like a straw. It has large flowers of the coalscuttle shape, white 
with blue on the lip, much like the plant from Lenggong limestone 
hills, if not the same. Impatiens mirabile was common in places, its 
stems sometimes 6 inches through, of the quaintest shapes. It was 
here and there coming into flower and I saw one branched raceme, 
but most were out of flower. Cycas siamensis is very odd-looking. 
It grows on the highest precipices, hanging down and looking 
like some extraordinary snake. At Setul are some heaths, dry and 
sandy, with trees reduced largely to bushes, perhaps from fires. 
wart bamboo is very common, and here we got the pretty pink 
know of similar woods in Malacca but there has been a story that 
the plant was introduced by the Dutch and only occurs round Dutch 
settlements. It is quite clear now that the tree is really indigenous. 
We got many other plants which are quite new to me and are not 
at all like pio Malayan but look Indian. : 
The prevalence of thorny plants, Acacia, Albizzia, Gardenia, 
Canthium, Quisqualis, Capparis was as characteristic of the drier 
parts, especially the edges of the limestone hills at the base and the 
sandy spots, as it was troublesome to get through. In the rice- 
fields the characteristic tree was Dolichandrone Rheedii, usually a 
tidal-swamp bushy low tree, but it was dotted over the rice-fields 
in the form of a tall, erect-branched tree, with scanty leaves, and 
