1920] Ridley : Peninsular Siamese Plants. 73 



but fiu'ther down, beyond outcrops of rock, the southern 

 beach seemed cleaner and steeper. The land m our neigh- 

 bourhood was partly swampy with many rattans and palms, 

 partly dry and sandy. The forest was not lofty. We found 

 no water but it was to be obtained on a point, or island, to 

 the east. The eastern shore of Delisle Id. is low but a hill 

 rises near the south. On the mainland opposite were high 

 hills many of them looking rather bare and these with the 

 smooth green sea and the neighbouring islets made a pretty 

 scene. 



We left at 11 a.m. on the 20th Feb. and steering round 

 the west side of Saddle island, where there are attractive 

 Casuarina-bordered beaches contrasting with the mangrove- 

 fringed northern shore; passed south of the Lighthouse and 

 east of everything else up to Koh Phi (the lighthouse island) 

 outside Renong River where we anchored. On the south 

 side of the mouth is a village at the foot of a small hill and 

 a little farther on the opposite bank is the Customs station 

 with a well built sea-wall and jetty beneath another little 

 hill. At low tide the sand and mud banks at the river- 

 mouth almost close the entrance. Inland up-stream are 

 mangroves and beyond them a frontal range largely treeless 

 and brown but assuming beautiful tones in the afternoon 

 light : behind all are the peaks of the main range covered 

 with forests. 



On the 23rd we paid a visit to Renong town, going up- 

 stream at low tide. Except that it passed two or three little 

 hillocks the river winds among mangroves and much mud 

 and sand were exposed. After a couple of miles we passed 

 a landing place and row of buildings on our right where 

 a number of boats and lighters lay high and dry : soon after 

 we repeatedly found shallow water and had to wait for the 

 rising tide and after about two miles more the stream, 

 branching, became too shallow for our boat so we returned 

 to the landing place, meeting on the way down canoes going 

 up laden with firewood. On shore we got a 2-pony victoria 

 and travelling along a fair road, south of which is a wide 

 plain being worked for tin with dredgers, passed numerous 

 Siamese and Chinese shops and stalls and in about two miles 

 reached the beginning of the town proper. Here were 

 better-class shops, some of brick and stucco, cinemas, post 

 and telegraph office and a good neat gendarmerie barracks. 

 We first called at a substantial brick courthouse on an espla- 

 nade with a pavilion and football ground and then v/ent up 

 a low hill to the governor's office, a good and large brick 

 building where we saw an English-speaking official — the 

 governor being absent. Langsuan on the east coast, we 

 learnt, could be reached from here in three days on foot 

 along a track of sorts. Renong town lies long and straggling 

 between the government quarter and the landing stage and 

 is of the usual nondescript peninsular type, largely Chinese, 

 with no particular features ; the most notable being the 

 house of the old Rajah who governed here before the Civil 

 Service System was introduced : it stood in a large tree- 



