154 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 1 8, 1884 



has lived many years in Siam, assures me that he has 

 travelled round the Gunong Kendrong group at the head 

 of the Perak, and that it is quite detached from any 

 other hills. 



Perak River. — The whole of these groups are sufficiently 

 connected to prevent any drainage from the central range 

 flowing directly to the west coast of the peninsula. Thus 

 the Perak River, which has its sources in the Keddah 

 and Patani Mountains flows to the southward for over 

 180 miles. In its course it is joined by two important 

 rivers from the eastward, namely, the Plus and Kinta. 



Plus River. — The Plus River has its sources in the 

 high mountain groups east of Mount Inas, and in 

 the main range. It flows round the southern end of a 

 group called by some the Bukit Panjang Range, and then 

 joins the Perak. 



Kinta Ranges. — South of this junction is a group of 

 mountains called by some the Kinta Ranges. This 

 group is about twenty-five miles long. It is perfectly 

 detached from all the others, having a generally north and 

 south direction, but sending off spurs from its west side 

 a little to the west of south. The group is entirely 

 granitic, but on its lower slopes has thick deposits of 

 limestone belonging to the formation already referred to, 

 above and below which tin is worked. For about twenty- 

 five miles this range separates the valley of the Perak 

 River from that of the Kinta, which flows on its eastern 

 side. The highest peaks rise to about 3750 feet above 

 the sea, and give rise to small streams which all flow into 

 the Perak. There is a remarkable uniformity in three or 

 four of the highest summits, which are about the centre 

 of the chain, Mounts Merah (red), Prungin, &c. They 

 are all within a few feet of the same height. From these 

 mountains the range falls away gradually to the south, 

 and sends off two considerable spurs to the south-west. 

 Where it ceases the River Kinta joins the Perak. 



Kinta Valley. — The valley of the Kinta River is about as 

 wide as that of the Perak. The river flows, like the Perak, 

 on the eastern side of the valley. The eastern tribu- 

 taries are many and important. On the sides limestone 

 granite and schistose slates crop out. To the eastward 

 there are many detached hills of limestone fronting the 

 main central chain. They form very characteristic fea- 

 tures in the landscape, from their precipitous outline, and 

 the brilliantly coloured faces of blue, green, and bright 

 red rock. They are also distinguished by a different 

 vegetation. 



Perak Valley. — The valley of the Perak River is 

 bounded by the groups of mountains already described 

 on the west ; on the east by the Kinta Range, and north 

 of the Plus by the Bukit Panjang Range. The river 

 flows on the eastern side of the valley ; this is owing to 

 the many spurs and outliers on the eastern sides of 

 Mounts Bubu and the Ijau Ranges. It seems as if there 

 had been much less denudation on the eastern than on 

 the western sides of the range. This may be owing to 

 the prevailing rains falling more abundantly on the 

 western than on the eastern sides of the mountains. 



As a consequence of this the tin workings appear to be, 

 with little exception, on the western sides of the ranges, 

 where the waste and wash has probably been greater. 



Datu Kurau. — Between Mount Bubu Range and 

 Mount Ijau Range and the sea there are no hills i 

 except small outliers, mostly of Palaeozoic clay, which 

 have evidently belonged to the/ ranges. But north of the 

 Larut River there is an isolated limestone mountain near 

 the Kurau River. This is called Batu (stone or rock in 

 Malay) Kurau. It is very similar to Mount Poudok in 

 the Gapis Pass. It is quite unconnected with the main 

 range, and rises out of the plain between the spurs which 

 form the valley of the Kurau River. There is also a 

 small detached range dividing the valley of the Krian 

 River from that of the Kurau. 



Main Range. — Of the main range I know but 



very little from personal observation, having only 

 visited if at Coping, and at the limestone hills, where 

 the tin is worked on the Diepang River. But I have 

 travelled along the most of the Kinta Valley skirting the 

 base of the range either on foot or in boats. I have also 

 traced the valley of the Kampar River. The geology is 

 like the rest of the country, mainly granite, slates, and 

 limestone, with traces of basaltic rocks. The general 

 structure of the range can best be judged from some of 

 the mountains to the westward. It forms a most impos- 

 ing boundary to the whole of the western horizon. In the 

 north, about the sources of the Plus River, there is a 

 mountain of rounded outline, probably over 6000 feet high. 

 The range there declines a little, with a somewhat ser- 

 rated outline, but generally over 3000 feet. At a point 

 corresponding with the latitude of about the centre of the 

 Kinta Range, or opposite the Gapis Pass, the chain in- 

 creases in elevation to perhaps over 5000 feet, and in the 

 distance is seen a peak which must be over 8000 feet 

 high. I know no name for this hill, but it is the most 

 distant mountain usually seen. South and west of this 

 the chain rises into a grand cluster of peaks, the highest 

 of which is over 7000 feet. This is Gunong Robinson. 

 It looks higher than the Sugar-Loaf Hill as seen from 

 Gunong Bubu, but then it is much nearer. From Gunong 

 Robinson the range declines to the southward, but is still 

 a bold series of picturesque peaks, many of which must 

 be over 6000 feet. It has been asserted by more than 

 one observer that to the south of the point where the 

 range is lost sight of from Arung Pura, there is a high 

 mountain occasionally visible higher than any other in 

 the main range, and [probably over 12,000 feet. This I 

 have not seen, but I am convinced that there are many 

 things yet to be learned about the most elevated portions 

 of this mountain chain. Seen from any point of view, it 

 forms a magnificent mountain prospect. Its mysterious 

 unexplored recesses are rendered more gloomy than any 

 scene in the world from the dense forest and the masses 

 of vapour and cloud with which they are always clothed. 

 A few savage Sakies are the only inhabitants. I may 

 add that perhaps in no country in the world is exploration 

 rendered so difficult from the extraordinary thickness of 

 the jungle and the steepness of the mountain ridges which 

 unceasingly cross the traveller's path. 



Penang, September 8 J. E. TENISON-W00DS 



A NEW APPLICATION OF SCIENCE 



DR. FERRIER'S researches on the brain, to which 

 wc have often drawn attention in these columns, 

 have lately received an application of the most startling 

 character. What this application is cannot be better 

 stated now than in the accompanying letter, signed 

 " F.R.S.," which appeared in Tuesday's Times. We shall 

 return to this subject next week. 



" While the Bishop of Oxford and Prof. Ruskin were, on some- 

 what intangible grounds, denouncing vivisection at Oxford last 

 1 in- day afternoon, there sat at oneof the windows of the Hos- 

 pital for Epilepsy and Paralysis, in Regent's Park, in an invalid 

 chair, propped up with pillows, pale and careworn, but with a 

 hopeful smile on his face, a man who could have spoken a really 

 pertinent word upon the subject, and told the right rev. prelate 

 and the great art critic that lie owed his life, and his wife and child- 

 ren their rescue from bereavement and penury, to some of these 

 experiments on living animals which they so roundly condemned. 

 The case of this man has been watched with intense interest by 

 the medical profession, for it is of an unique description, and 

 inaugurates a new era in cerebral surgery ; and now that it has 

 been" brought to a successful issue, it seems desirable that a brief 

 outline of it should be placed before the general public, because 

 it illustrates vividly the benefits that physiological explorations 

 may confer on mankind, shows how speedily useful fruit may 

 be gathered from researches undertaken in the pursuit of 

 knowledge and with no immediate practical aim, and reveals 



