Dec. 1 8, 1884] 



NA TURE 



l 53 



not heard that they had been observed in the Malay- 

 peninsula. Nothing of the kind is seen on the lower 

 slopes of these mountains even 100 feet below the summit. 

 This Australian flora may be the relics of an ancient flora, 

 which once included the Eastern Archipelago. But it 

 does not appear why the species should be confined to 

 the tops of the mountains. They grow in a much warmer 

 climate in Australia. 



There are no table-lands in Perak ; the mountains are 

 all sharp ridges. There is not the slightest sign of any 

 recent upheaval of the coast-line, while the evidence of 

 subsidence is equally absent. But the land is rapidly 

 encroaching on the sea owing to the immense alluvial 

 wash brought daily from the mountains in this land of 

 heavy rains. Thus the shores are fringed with large 

 mangrove swamps which yearly extend, and the Straits 

 of Malacca form a shallow sea full of mud banks and 

 shoals. The seas are consequently rather poor in certain 

 forms of marine life to which muddy sediment is un- 

 favourable. 



Though the tin has been worked for centuries, only a 

 comparatively small portion of the country has been 

 worked out or worked at all. I consider that the deposits 

 in Perak are practically inexhaustible. The mining in- 

 dustry is almost exclusively in the hands of the Chinese, 

 who are almost the perfection of colonists for a country 

 like this. Malays are not good miners. Gold is found 

 associated with tin, but small, scaly, in sparing quantity, 

 and only in one or two places. 



There are only two instances known to me of the 

 occurrence of recent volcanic rocks : one is in the Kinta 

 River valley, the other on the western face of a small 

 group of mountains not far to the east-south-east of the 

 island of Penang, and near the Karau River. The rocks 

 appear to be basaltic dykes, but the thick jungle and 

 surface weathering prevented a proper examination. 



The mountain system of this native State consists of 

 detached groups of mountains which cover the west side 

 of this part of the peninsula, an almost continuous range 

 close to the sea in the Straits of Malacca. These 

 groups of mountains form parallel chains about thirty 

 miles long, with a direction a little oblique to the true 

 meridional line. Sometimes they are wholly detached 

 groups, so as to allow rivers from the eastward to pass 

 between them. Such an instance is seen in the ranges 

 between the Kinta and Perak rivers. This group ter- 

 minates to the north so as to allow the River Plus to 

 pass to the westward and to the south so as to give an 

 outlet to the Kinta. Both rivers join the Perak River, 

 which flows round another group (Gunong Bubu), and 

 then flows into the sea in the Straits of Malacca. 



The islands of the coast, such as the Dindings and 

 those off the State of Keddah (Pulo Leddas, Pulo Lankawi, 

 and Pulo Buton, known as the Buntings), are probably 

 portions of similar groups, and so are Pulo Penang and 

 the attendant islands. These groups and those on the 

 mainland usually run in sharp parallel ridges, variously 

 modified by oblique spurs, which at times connect the 

 main chains forming watersheds which throw off small 

 streams north-east and south-west. 



The following are the principal groups of mountains 

 known to me, beginning at the south :-- 



Dindings Islands. — Off the coast in front of the Din- 

 dings River {Binding, Malay for boundary- or partition), 

 kit. 4 12' N., there is a series of islands of moderate 

 elevation not exceeding 1000 feet in their highest peaks. 

 They are granite, rich in tin, with a little fine scaly gold. 

 They are densely clothed with jungle, and have fringing 

 reefs of coral. I have visited three or four of these 

 islands, and they are all of the same character. 



1 Mi the mainland there is a cluster of hills called the 

 False Dindings, from the fact that at a short distance 

 they look like islands. These are also granitic, and tin 

 occurs in the alluvial beds derived from them. Thevgive 



rise to small rivers, such as the Dindings and its 

 tributaries. 



Gunong Bubu. — North-east of this group, but quite 

 detached from it, is a series of parallel mountain ridges 

 with a uniform trend of north-north-east. These ridges are 

 eight or nine in number. The central one is the highest, 

 culminating in Mount Bubu, a fine peak of about 5600 

 feet elevation. All the ridges are granitic, with occasional 

 patches of metamorphic schists, all more or less rich in 

 tin. A remarkable character in this range is that all the 

 ridges are extremely steep, and frequently interrupted by 

 granite precipices of 1000 feet and more. Gunong Bubu 

 is only accessible in one or two places, the summit being 

 surrounded by escarpments of rock of great height. 



Many small streams join the Perak River and the sea 

 from this range. The Kaugsa and Kenas both flow into 

 the Perak to the eastward. In an ascent made by me to 

 the summit of Mount Bubu I was able to explore some 

 of the sources of both these rivers, which afford a home 

 to many a rhinoceros, but few other animals except 

 monkeys {Hylobatcs, Semnopitfiecus, and Macacus). 

 The rivers descend many hundred feet in a series of cas- 

 cades, giving rise to some of the finest scenery in the 

 Malay peninsula. 



North of Mount Bubu this group of ridges falls away 

 abruptly, leaving a narrow pass (Gapis Pass) between 

 them and the next group. This pass is about 400 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and therefore too elevated to 

 permit of any river outlet. 



Mount Poudok. — In Gapis Pass, or rather at the eastern 

 end of it, there is an isolated hill of highly crystalline 

 limestone. It is an outlier of the great Palaeozoic lime- 

 stone formation already referred to. It is about 400 feet 

 high, and quite precipitous. Its junction with the granite 

 or Palaeozoic clays is not visible. Its bright blue and red 

 precipices crowned with dark-green jungle make it a singular 

 and beautiful object, but there are many similar in the 

 State. 



Mount Ijan. — North of Gapis another group of ranges 

 succeeds, culminating in Mount Ijau (Malay for green) at 

 about 4400 feet above the sea. This cluster of ridges 

 appears to me to be of nearly the same dimensions as the 

 Mount Bubu group, but not so high by 1000 feet or so. 

 I estimate that each group is from twenty to twenty-five 

 miles long, and fourteen to sixteen broad, covering an 

 area of about 400 square miles. This, however, is only a 

 rough estimate formed from views I have been able to 

 obtain from the summits of other mountains. I have not 

 been able to examine personally the termination of the 

 Mount Ijau group on the north. From the sea one is 

 able to perceive a distinct pass like that of Gapis. It is 

 probably about the same height, and does not form the 

 outlet of any river from the eastern side. 



Kurau Group. — North of Gunong Ijau is another 

 group, which I do not know how to distinguish except that 

 it forms the watershed of the Kurau River. Its highest 

 point is a mountain which is also called Ijau by the 

 Malays. I have not ascended the peak, but it seemed to 

 me less elevated than Mount Ijau to the south. 



Mount Inas. — What the Malays of Keddah call Mount 

 Inas is the highest point of another detached group north 

 of the Krian and Selama Rivers. I have been within a 

 few miles of the foot of this mountain, and it seemed to 

 me to be somewhat over 4000 feet high, and the highest 

 point of an isolated group of ridges. 



Keddah Peak. — North of Mount Inas, in the State of 

 Keddah, there is, close to the sea, a detached group of 

 mountains, at the foot of which the Keddah River flows. 

 Keddah Peak is the highest summit, — probably over 

 4000 feet high. This is in what is called Lower Siam, 

 in which I have only travelled to a very trifling extent 

 north of the Krian River, the boundary of Perak State. 

 In the north of Perak, near Patani, we have other groups 

 of mountains. An Italian explorer named Bozzolo, who 



