110 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



only by herds of elephants and numbers of rhino- 

 ceroses. Near the hills from which it takes its 

 source, at a place where the stream is little more 

 than knee -deep, one suddenly comes upon a Malay 

 village of considerable size. It is a lovely spot, and 

 its beauty is intensified by its contrast with the 

 sombre forest from which one emerges : a wide plain 

 of crisp springy turf, grazed short by buffaloes and 

 cattle, with cocoanut palms waving over the brown 

 thatched houses that fringe the river-bank, and padi- 

 fields covered with the rich and tender green of the 

 young rice-plants. 



Tin-ore was found in small quantities in the hills 

 behind this village, and the consequent immigration 

 necessitated a magistrate being stationed there. I 

 was sent there in 1895, and Tanjong Malim as I 

 knew it was a purely Malay village. 



My quarters were placed on the river-bank, and 

 facing the house, a little more than a mile away, a 

 hill named Changkat Asah rose abruptly from the 

 level plain that stretched out on all sides around it. 

 The cultivated area extended to its base, but thence 

 to its summit, some 700 feet high, it was clad in 

 virgin forest. The huge dark mass dominated the 

 beautiful village at its base. It was of course the 

 feature of the place, and an object of superstitious 

 dread to the Malays. Many were the stories told 

 of the spirits that dwelt there, and no searcher of 

 rattans or gutta dared to remain on its slopes after 

 dark. Every Jin and Efrit known to the Eastern 

 mind ; the malignant demons that change their form 

 at will the familiar spirits of sorcerers ; heads of 



