112 SELAMA TO PONG, PATANI. 
ed up track again. It now leads off to the eastward; fol- 
lowed it along and descended the steep end of the ridge; at — 
bottom found jungle was secondary growth and had previously 
been cultivated, and we now knew we were near Pong and 
food. 
A little further on, at 1 P.M., reached Sungei Rui again. 
Three of the men who were quite done up, set to work to 
make a bamboo raft to descend the river on, the remainder of 
us followed the stream through secondary growth; past 
several fallen houses and abandoned gardens. In one of 
these there were a few sticks of sugar-cane and some green 
unripe plantains, we all went at these like a pack of wolves 
in asheep-fold. Some had not eaten anything for three days 
and were nearly exhausted. This revived every one con- 
siderably, and we went on, following the river down, crossed 
it, and arrived at Pong at 2.30 P.M. 
Found rice plentiful here, twelve cents per gantang,; fowls 
half-grown three cents, large ones nine cents each. This is a 
small kampong of six houses, Siamese; there were formerly 
twenty, but the Raja of Patani took all the people away to 
work for him for nothing, in a distant place, and many never 
came back again; Klian Pong, a tin mine on the Sungei Pong, 
is a short distance from here, but itis not worked now. There 
were formerly five hundred Chinese there, but the Raja 
wanted all the profit for himself, so it was abandoned. 
The nearest mine at work is Klian Intan; Klian Kladie is on 
the Sungei Krong not far below Sira Tye. I am informed 
there used to be an elephant track from here to it. It has 
long been abandoned. It drew supplies from Baling. There 
is a high perpendicular rock here called Batu Chigar about 
300 feet high, lime-stone, it looks as if half the hill had been 
split from it, it faces the river. 
We put up at the Siamese Temple; sandflies in’ myriads at 
night, and drove me to bed at 7 P.M. 
I should have liked to have taken a day’s rest, as the men 
had had rather a rough time of it, and we should have likeda 
day to get our clothes dry, having got no sun in the jungle 
for eight days, but I thought that ourlong absence might 
cause anxiety, so resolved to push on. Going back over the 
