A TRIP TO GUNONG BINTANG. 53 
24th. Heard the Constance was at Bagan Serai, so went down there 
and left in her at 8.30 p.m. We stuck on the bar for some hours going 
out, and finally reached Port Weld at 6 a.m. on the 25th, having been 
absent from Taiping 35 days. 
As a result of my journey, I may say that the whole of the country 
through which | passed from Ulu Selama to North Bintang is equal, as 
agricultural and planting land, to any I have seen in the State. In 
many places there is great depth of soil, derived from the decomposition 
of granite, and the slopes are seldom what one in Perak would call steep. 
At present this fertile country is totally uninhabited, even the nomadic 
Semang being conspicuous by his absence. 
It is the most practicable outlet in Perak territory for the produce 
of the Klian Indah and Intan tin mines of the Ulu Rhui District (which 
at present finds its way to Baling in Kedah) through the pass below 
False Bintang, which | visited, and from my observations it may be taken 
as being under 3,290 feet above sea level. 
Although this height is very considerable, there would be very little 
difficulty in grading a road at 1 in 20 to 1 in 25 through it, because the valley 
of the Krian Kanan runs back so far that there is ample room to get the 
rise without the introduction of dangerous zigzags. 
Taking advantage of the False Bintang pass, the Klians Intan 
and Indah could be connected with a port on the Krian River by well- 
graded cart-roads and bridle-tracks of a total length, after making all 
allowances for grading, of 68 miles. 
Of that distance, four miles is already a metalled road and three 
miles an earth bank, which leaves about 61 miles of road and bridle-track 
to complete the connection. Four of the former and 57 of the latter 
would ensure cart traffic to Selama, beyond which a bridle-road would 
take its place. 
The general line that such a track should follow I have roughly indi- 
cated by the dotted curved line shown on my map (accompanying this 
paper), from a point on the Krian River, about south-east from Bukit 
Panchor, to which large tongkangs and steam launches can_ safely 
navigate that river at any state of the tide. 
In addition to opening up the valley of the Ulu Rhui, such a bridle- 
road would bring several thousand acres of fine planting land within 
easy reach of Penang and Province Wellesley. 
G. A. LEFROY, A.M.I.C.E. 
