XV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF KEDAH PEAK. 



By H. C. Robinson, C.M.Z.S., M.B.O.U., and 

 C. BoDEN Kloss, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



Kedah Peak, or Gunong Jerai, to use its Malay name, is a 

 familiar landmark to all voyagers through the Straits of 

 Malacca, dominating as it does the roadstead of Penang. 



It is situated about 22 miles NNE of Penang with its 

 summit about 6 miles from the sea and according to the latest 

 computations attains a height of 3,976 feet being, if we except 

 the Bintang Range on the Perak border, considerably the 

 highest mountain in the State of Kedah. It is quite isolated, 

 standing on a base that does not exceed 50 square miles, and is 

 separated by low land not exceeding 50 feet in elevation from 

 all other hills. Its slopes to the north and west are much 

 steeper than those to the south and east and vertical rock faces, 

 many hundreds of feet in height, exist. Geologically the 

 mountain appears to consist of sandstones and quartzites 

 of varying degrees of hardness, traversed b}' veins of quartz, 

 while in one or two places deposits of haematite are found. 

 It is well watered, being cut into by three great valleys which 

 have been utilized for a water supply to the neighbouring dis- 

 tricts and the cliffs are ornamented in several places by 

 cascades which are very conspicuous after \\et weather of any 

 duration. 



On the lower slopes the forest is now poor, timber cutting 

 having been, until the last few years quite unrestricted, but a 

 good deal of Meranti {Shorea and Hopea spp) is found up to 

 about 2,000 ft., while Medang {Lanraceae) is also abundant. 

 There is but little hard wood except in the first two or three 

 hundred feet where it has almost all been cut out, and but little 

 jelotong. We saw no taban of any kind. The stemless palms 

 are by no means numerous and the forest generally is dry and 

 with but little undergrowth. 



On the Eastern side above about 1,800 feet where timber 

 cutting ceases, the character of the forest changes and on the 

 ridges great numbers of orchids begin to appear. Conifers, 

 Agathis, Dacrydium (spp.) and Podocarpus are abundant and 

 large shrubby Rhododendrons with salmon, lemon-yellow and 

 white flowers begin to show themselves. In the damper hol- 

 lows and among rocks near the streams a scarlet Balanophcra 

 was very abundant. Many of the ridges and flatter areas from 

 2,500 feet to the summit were clothed with a zerophitic vegeta- 

 tion, amongst which Boeckia frutescens, Tristania, Leptospenninji 

 and Vaccinium were the commonest shrubs, while in damp 

 hollows amongst the rocks and amongst the coarse grasses and 

 sedges that covered the more open spaces Burmannia longfolia, 



