JOURNAL OF A COLLECTING EXPEDITION 
TO-THE MOUNTAIN OF BATANG 
PADANG, PERAK. 
BY 
I AIR OENG Bes 6 
= OO—E— OOS - 
Yam N Monday, the 6th of June, 1888, in accordance 
eee =o with instructions received, [| left Taiping and pro- 
ceeded to Telok Anson in the S.S. A7vnufa, and 
after seeing the baggage put on board a river-boat, 
and paying a visitto the Superintendent, Lower 
Perak, started at about 10 A.M. on the 7th for Tapa. 
At the half-way Resthouse I was met by a pony, and rode 
the rest of the way, reaching Tapa at 6.30 P.M. 
The first four or five miles of road from Durian Sabatang 
passes through a nearly level country, which, judging from 
appearances, is eminently suited to the growth of padi or 
sugar-cane. The surface soil is rich and black, and, from 
what can be seen of it by inspecting the ditches, is of considera- 
ble depth. The upper part of the road near Tapa also passes 
through some fine land, but it is of quite a different character, 
being hilly and with a reddish yellow soil, light and quite 
sandy in places. Its quality is shown by the luxuriant growth 
of the various products which have been already planted, such 
as bananas, pepper, coco-nuts, Indian corn, &c. The latter 
can be planted many times in succession on the same land 
without manure. The rule in other parts of the State is that 
only one crop of this plant can be taken off even virgin forest 
land. So that it is evident there must be in the soil near 
Tapa considerable quantities of some inorganic substance 
which is essential to the growth of maize, and which is pre- 
sent in the soil of other parts of Perak only in minute quanti- 
ties. The rock from which much of this soil is derived is a 
paleozoic schistose formation. ‘There is also, of necessity, in 
