12 CAVE DWELLERS OF PERAK. 



that the small village he saw at the mouth of the Kedah 

 river had been built on the site of an old " kitchen midden." 



Newbold in "The Straits of Malacca," published in 1839, 

 gives some interesting and more definite information on this point. 

 He says: — " That singular mass of limestone, the elephant rock, 



in the Kedah territory was visited by Dr. Ward, 



. . . at the foot of a detached piece of the limestone rock he 

 found, elevated about eight or ten feet above the level of the 

 surrounding plain, a quantity of shells, chiefly cockles, oysters, 

 and a large kind of mussel, which he describes to have been 

 cemented together in one compact mass by calcareous matter, 

 the interstices being filled with soft earth containing numerous 

 smaller shells. The mass was of irregular shape, between three 

 and four feet square and about the same in thickness, perfectly 

 superficial and not connected in any way with the rock near it. 

 No appearance of shelly strata was discovered in the neighbour- 

 hood. The rock itself is an insulated mass of limestone, 

 close - grained, and of a dark, smoky grey colour, perforated 

 by stalactitic caverns of considerable size. It is situated about 

 six miles from the coast, in an immense plain bounded to 

 the east by a small ridge of hills about sixteen miles inland 

 supposed to be composed of a fine-grained sandstone. The soil 

 of the plain is a whitish clay mixed with sand. From its 

 general appearance, the low nature of the surrounding country, 

 the existence of the shells in the breccia, and local tradition, 

 Dr. Ward thinks that it was at one time surrounded by the sea, 

 and at no very distant period. The nature of the fossils, when 

 discovered, must determine this point. It does not appear that 

 the stalagmitic flooring of the caves was broken up by 

 Dr. Ward ; this shovild be done in order to get at the silt, sand, 

 gravel or mud in which organic remains have been usually 

 found in the ossiferous caverns of Europe." 



The detached mass of shell conglomerate mentioned here is 

 evidently similar to that found in the caves of the inland hills, 

 excepting that the shells are marine instead of fresh water. 

 Probably it was formed at the time when the sea washed the 

 foot of the hill, and was then detached and left in the place 

 where it was found by Dr. Ward by the action of the waves. 



Further information is given by Mr, W. E. Maxwell in a 

 short note on the "Antiquities of Province Wellesley," in the first 

 number of the " Journal of the Straits Royal Asiatic Society." 

 He says: — "Singular mounds of shells are to be met Avith 

 in the north of Province Wellesley not far from the Muda river. 

 They are composed of sea -shells of the kind called 'kepah' and 

 'karang' (cockles) by the Malays, though they are situated at 



