1838.] Excursions to the Eastward. 687 



the boat was got on shore. It was full of sand and two of the planks 

 were stove in. The jackets of the men were employed to close these 

 apertures, and then by dint of constant baling our party reached the 

 vessel in safety. 



19th. Anchored in Trang harbour within bowshot of a small 

 creek. The channel is narrow, and it deepens towards the anchorage 

 at this creek which runs up into the east side of the island. This 

 spot is about three miles distant from the guard house at the mouth 

 of the Trang river, and about twelve from Khoan Tani the chief village 

 of the district which also lies on the banks of the river. 



Pulo Tilibong was formerly inhabited, but the wars of Salang which 

 exposed it to Burman ravage scared the people away. On the sandy 

 beach on the eastern side we found the remains of a stockade which had 

 been constructed with shinbeans or roughly planed planks, about two or 

 three inches in thickness, of the wood called by the Siamese mat kheum, 

 and khayu geam by the Malays. These planks were about ten feet 

 above the ground in height. This is a very hard and durable wood, and 

 of a dark color. Although it had been exposed to the weather in this 

 stockade for upwards of twelve years, it seemed to have only increased 

 in hardness by age. 



In a cave in a high rock which guards the northern entrance to the 

 harbour, I discovered twelve human sculls placed in a row ; they proba- 

 bly belonged to some of those men who had fallen in the wars just 

 alluded to. This cave contains many line stalactitical masses. 



There is a channel betwixt the island of Tilibong, and the main shore 

 which is generally used by the Chinese junks which go up from Penang. 

 There is no safe channel for vessels from Tilibong harbour to the 

 river's mouth. The harbour ends in a deep excavation of 9 feet, being 

 merely the channel which is formed by that portion of the waters of the 

 river which flow in this direction. 



Trang is a thinly peopled district. About three thousand persons of 

 both sexes may be taken as the utmost extent of the population. 



The river and its adjacent shores are chiefly valuable to the Siamese 

 on account of the facilities which both afford for boat building, and of 

 some tin mines at the skirts of the hills. Trang river bears properly 

 only one embouchure although the maps represent it otherwise. Junks 

 go up it for ten or twelve miles (by the course of the river). About 

 six hours' rowing up it divides into two branches. 



Khoan Tani is the chief village. Poultry and some other refresh- 

 ments can be obtained. The finest kinds of fish swam at the mouth of 

 the river and in the harbour. 



