104 



Dnyong (Halieore fhiyovg) were not uiiconimon in some 

 of the bays ; but though two specimens were shot, 

 they sank at once and were not recovered, 



(V.) The Khio Archipelago : 



(a) Bintang Island— 



With the exception of the outlying island of Panjang, 

 or Mapor, which we were unable to visit, owing to 

 unfavourable winds and currents, Bintang is the 

 most easterly, as it is also the largest, island in the 

 group. It is nowhere high, the biggest hill, Bukit 

 Bintang, which forms an important mark for vessels 

 entering Singapore Straits from the east and north 

 only reaching 1,200 feet. The greatest part of its 

 area consists of undulating land, from which all the 

 jungle has been cleared in years past — for pepper, 

 gambler and pine-ap])les — and has now, for the most 

 part, relapsed into secondary growth, which is very 

 difficult to penetrate. In places the ground is swampy 

 and portions of the coast are fringed by mangroves, 

 which, however, nowhere form a very broad belt, 

 except on parts of the south coast, which we did not 

 visit. On the north and east the shore is, for the 

 most part, rocky with occasional beaches of fine white 

 sand, and is nearly everywhere fringed by coral reefs. 

 We collected at three places — viz., Tanjong Tombak, 

 Pasir Panjang and Simgei Biru — all on the north 

 coast, and the latter close to Tanjong Berakit, the 

 north-east extremity of the island, and also visited 

 for an hour or two Telok Dalam, a small settlement 

 on the east coast ; 



(b) Bat am Island — 



Batam is the second largest island of the Rhio Archi- 

 pelago and lies west of Bintang, from which it is 

 separated by the Rhio Straits which form the highway 

 for vessels proceeding from Singapore to Java and 

 the Sunda Straits. It is even more cleai'ed than 

 Bintang, and those districts visited by us possessed 

 very little original jungle indeed. The collections 

 made by Kloss and reported on by Dr. Lyon were 

 secured on the north and west coasts, while the 

 present ones were made on the east at tAvo localities 

 Avithin a few miles of each other— viz., Tanjong Sauh 

 and Tanjong Turut, A full accoimt of the island is 

 given by one of us in the "Journal of the Straits 

 Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; " * 



No. 49, pp. 61-71 (1908). 



