JOURNEY ON THE SEMBRONG RIVER. 3 



days, we continued up the Indau in order to ascend Gunong- 

 Janeng- and explore the rivers Mas and L'makan, 



After poling- for about two hours and a half we passed 

 Kuala Mas on our left and five hours later, about 4 p.m., the 

 Jakun clearing just below Kuala L'makan came in sight. For 

 some miles below this place the river had been gradually becom- 

 ing shallower and we found that the skuchi could proceed no 

 farther. The character of the jungle bordering this part of the 

 river is somewhat different to that along the lower reaches. The 

 Rasau beds grow fewer and at last disappear and the river banks 

 increase in height and are in places covered with dense brakes 

 of fern (Gleichenia linearis) and in others with bamboos of dif- 

 ferent kinds. 



At Kuala L'makan, there is a considerable Jakun settlement, 

 all however, on the Johore side of the river, the Jakuns object- 

 ing to live on the Pahang side as they say they suffer ill-treat- 

 ment at the hands of the Pahang Malays. This settlement has 

 been in existence about a year and a half, before which time the 

 families composing it lived some miles hig-her up at Batu Gajah, 

 but owing to several of their number being killed by tigers they 

 migrated to their present locality. One woman was actually 

 pulled through the bamboo flooring of a hut and carried off by a 

 tiger. 



This is the only settlement of those we visited, with the 

 exception of that on the Mas river, where the natives manufac- 

 ture spear-heads, and other iron articles. They obtain the iron 

 from Malay or Chinese traders and work it up for themselves, 

 and supply the other settlements on the Indan and its tributaries, 



The forge used by the Jakuns is very simple in its construc- 

 tion. It consists of a clay basin, about 18 inches m diameter, at one 

 side of which enters a nozzle of hard wood which is connected 

 with a hollow wooden cylinder about four feet long and six or 

 eight inches in diameter in which works a piston and which 

 serves as a bellows. 



Having interviewed the Penghulu of the district who was 

 livings at this place; and arranged for small "jalors" (dug-outs) 

 in which to carry out the exploration of the smaller streams we 

 spent the evening- obtaining "Pantang- Kapur" vocabulary. 



On the following day Mr. Lake started off early in a small 

 jalor to make a survey of the L'makan river while I accom- 



