490 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



the sea is studded with them ; and especially north of 

 Padang there are very many shallow, dangerous coral 

 reefs, not indicated on most maps. South of Indrapura 

 the coast has either been elevated more than the area 

 north of it, which has remained beneath the sea, or 

 the northern part of the coast has been depressed, 

 while the southern part has nearly maintained its 

 former level. The sand and clays of which this strip 

 of low alluvial land is composed came from the dis- 

 integration and decomposition of the rocks that form 

 the Barizan chain. They have been transported to 

 their present position by the many small streams 

 that flow down the southwestern flanks of those 

 mountains to the sea. The transporting power of 

 a stream depends, of course, chiefly on its volume, 

 and the rapidity with which it flows. A glance 

 at the maj)s of Sumatra will show that the larger 

 streams are north of Cape Indrapura. Again, as the 

 streams south of that point flow, for a part of their 

 course, through level lands, they are not as raj^id 

 as those north of it, which empty at once into the 

 sea, without making a circuitous or zigzag course 

 through the alluvial lands, or deltas, which they 

 themselves have formed. 



Ajpril 21s^. — Commenced my overland journey 

 on horseback, the only mode of travelling in this 

 region. Our company to-day consists of the Resi- 

 dent, a rajah, and many attendants; and we have 

 come here to Suban, to look at the deposits of coal 

 in this vicinity. From Bencoolen to Taba Panan- 

 jong, at the foot of the Barizan, the road is nearly 

 level, being over the strip of low land that we fol- 



