JOUR^^EY ON THE SEMBRONG EIVER. 11 



tbe fine pandan called by the Jakims MengkuaDg" tikar (Pandanns 

 furcatus) and which is used for making- kajang-s, &c., grows 

 plentifully. This pandan attains a height of 20 or 3 ^ feet and 

 its leaves are 10 to 15 feet in length and three or four inches 

 wide. There was also a quantity of a palm resembling B'rtam and 

 called by the Jakuns K'lubi (Zalacca Sp.J It has an acid fruit 

 about the size of a pinang nut but round and of a reddish colour 

 which can he eaten when boiled, according to the natives' account. 



About noon the survey trace of the proposed railway from 

 Johor Bahru was crossed at a point 57 miles from that town, 

 and about half an hour afterwards, just below Pengkalan Eepoh, 

 the shallowness of the river and a fallen tree put a stop to our 

 further progress. Only the very smallest jalors can proceed 

 some little distance beyond this point, where the river is only 

 10 or 12 feet wide. A few Jakuns were camped at this place 

 having come from Simpai, on the Batu Pahat Sembrong, to fish. 



The next two days were occupied in transporting all our 

 baggage across the five miles which separates Pengkalan Repoh 

 from Kampong Simpai, the highest navigable point on the Batu 

 Pahat h'emb.ong. 



About two hours after leaving camp Mr. Lake and I, who 

 went first, reached the point on the Panggong mentioned by 

 Mr. Hervey in his account of the Indau and its tributaries, where 

 that stream bifurcates, one portion flowing to the north west 

 and becoming the Klambu, which unites with the Simpai to form 

 the Batu Pahat Sembrong*, the other flowing north east to 

 join the M'l'ther. 



Another hour and a half's tramping through the jungle, 

 along the well-worn footpath which forms the highway between 

 the eastern and western Sembrongs, brought us to Simpai. At 

 this place are settled a few Malays and a considerable number 

 of Jakuns. As it was uncertain whether boats would be at 

 once procurable in which to proceed to Batu Pahat, a ' pondok ' 

 was built and a camp established on the river bank. In the 

 evening I shot a specimen of the red flying squirrel (Pteromys 

 oral): it was espied by one of the Jakuns, running up a tree 

 close to the camp, and pointed out to me. A few new Pantang 

 Kapur words were added to the vocabulary at this place. 



