14 MESSRS. ROBINSON AND KLOSS ON 



we passed for some miles, eventually reaching Hat Sanuk at dusk. 



Our bullock-cart drivers had evidently taken us b}^ a very 

 circuitous route, hoping to make a two days journey. The forest in 

 which Hat Sanuk is situated is, to those used to the Malayan equator- 

 ial jungles, of very peculiar type. On the higher ridges and dryer 

 parts it is in the main composed of two trees only : — a stumpy holly- 

 like tree, Balanosfrehlus illcifolia and Euphorh'm quadroon gularix. 

 Near the water courses there was an abundance of big trees, chiefly 

 species of Ficits, but we noticed no, or hardly &ny,Di2)terocar2)ciceai, 

 which are the characteristic feature of virgin jungle in the dryer 

 parts of the Malayan lowland forests. The tops of the trees were in 

 places covered with the long trailing pseudo-bulbs and flower-spikes of 

 the beautiful orchid, Vaiida teres, of which thousands of blooms could 

 have been plucked in a few minutes. Less common, but still abundant, 

 was the scarlet Renanthera foc<?i'j?(?rt, and another species of the same 

 genus with yellow, brown and white petals. 



We camped for some days at Hat Sanuk near a sluggish 

 stream of indifferent water which was rapidly drying up. Many 

 interesting species of birds were obtained, including several new re- 

 cords for the country. Perhaps the most interesting was a silver 

 pheasant, Gennaeiis ii. sJiarj^ii, of which we were unfortunate in 

 only obtaining the female. Dry weather made stalking of any kind 

 impossible and the pheasants were very shy. 



Big game, including elephants, rhinoceros and wild cattle, as 

 well as pig, sambur and barking deer, Avere abundant in the district, 

 and game tracks ran in every direction. 



After Hat Sanuk the time we could spare for field work 

 expired, and we made the best of our way back to Kuala Lumpur, 

 stopping a couple of days at Singora which, in its way, is one of the 

 most beautiful places in the Malay Peninsula. 



Throughout the trip, from leaving Penang on January 30th 

 to our return to Kuala Lumpur at the end of April, we had no rain 

 with the exception of a few showers passing through Koh Lak on 

 our return. The heat was intense, and in the Pakchan river, where 

 however it was mitigated by dense white fogs, which la.sted .some- 

 times as late as 8.30 a.m., it quite prostrated some of our Malay crew. 



JOURN. NAT. HI.ST. SOC. SIAM. 



