of the Island of Sumatra, ^c. 401 



tions made during" the course of it, will probably be given by Dr. Horsfield, 

 who accompanied Sir T. S. Raffles on that occasion, I shall here only remark 

 generally, that granite was observed on both sides of the lake ; sometimes pass- 

 ing into gneiss and micaceous schistus, and at others associated with marble 

 and limestone, or with sandstone ; that basaltic and trap rocks were abun- 

 dant ; and that obsidian, lava, and pumice were observed in the valley of the 

 Tigablas. 



The country to the southward of Padang, as far nearly as Indrapore, is a 

 confused assemblage of hills, which come directly down to the sea ; and the 

 whole coast is broken into innumerable bays and islands. Through the 

 greater part of these, the mountain masses of rock are composed of a kind of 

 trap or amygdaloid, containing, in a cement of a grayish-brown colour, nume- 

 rous small fragments or nodules of other rocks, so firmly united, that the frac- 

 ture takes place through both indiscriminately, and so hard as often to ring- 

 under the hammer. Padang head is chiefly composed of trap ; it also fur- 

 nishes pebbles of chalcedony and large crystals of quartz. 



From Indrapore to Bencoolen, the range of hills runs nearly parallel to 

 the coast, leaving a belt of lower, but not level land between them and the 

 sea, whose action has exposed a long range of cliffs composed of a stiff dark 

 red clay. Behind the first range of hills to the east of Moco Moco, lies the 

 country of Korinchi, in which there is a considerable lake, which was first 

 visited by Dr. Campbell in 1800, and by him named Lake George. It was 

 again visited by the directions of Sir T. S. Raffles in 1818, and the party pro- 

 ceeded as far as Penkalan Iambi. From the observations then made, it 

 appears that the lake is much nearer the western coast, and more to the south- 

 ward than is laid down by Marsden ; and that a cultivated valley lies to the 

 north of it, watered by a small river, which descends to the lake from Gu- 

 nong Api, a high volcanic mountain constantly smoking, and distant about 

 sixty miles north-east of Indrapore point. The small lake noticed by Mars- 

 den, which should also have been placed to the northward, was dried up about 

 ten years since by the effect of an earthquake. Lake George gives out a 

 considerable stream at its southern end, which passing through the district 

 of Penkalan Iambi, becomes one of the principal branches of the river 

 Iambi. 



The countries of Limun and Batang Assii, through which the two southern- 

 most branches of this river pass, abound in gold, which has latterly been chiefly 

 exported to Moco Moco, Bencoolen, and Palembang. 



At Bencoolen the line of hills is situated about twenty miles inland ; and 

 the space between them and the sea exhibits a succession of ridges and 



3f2 



