JOURNEY ON THE SEMBRONG RIVER. 23 



Camphor trees are found in the neig"hbourhood of Bukit Bebap 

 near the Hulu {i. e. source). Gutta is also fairly plentiful. 



The geology of the Kahang is very similar to that of the 

 Serting and Gemeh rivers — a country of clays and clay shales, 

 with here and there traces of a sandstone formation lying in 

 almost horizontal strata about eight feet below the clays. Besides 

 this sandstone there are a few out-cropping masses of a very 

 hard compact green quartzy felsite. 



I found no traces of alluvial gold or of tin ore here. 



fe.J The Sembeong Batu Pahat.— 



Under this section I propose dealing with the upper portion 

 only of the Sembang Kanan or right fork of the Batu Pah at 

 river, usually known as the Batu Pahat Sembrong. 



The Sempang Kiri, or left fork, and the Bekok, a big 

 tributary of the right fork, are thickly settled with Chinese 

 engaged in gambir and pepper cultivation. This country was 

 surveyed by the Datu Luar of Johore some time ago. 



As before stated, the Batu Pahat Sembrong is formed by 

 the junction of the Simpai and the Kelambu (Panggong-). A 

 little below this junction is the Jakun village of Simpai, number- 

 ing about thirty-five inhabitants ; below this in close succession 

 along the banks of the river come the villages of Rukam, Merepoh, 

 and Cheh-Cheh, all inhabited by Jakuns, the two former with 

 about seventy -five and fifty people respectively. 



There is a Chinese gambir plantation nea.r Rukam. At 

 Cheh-Cheh, which is about four miles below Simpai, are three or 

 four Malay and a Chinese trader, with some thirty to forty Jakuns. 

 Cheh-Cheh is the centre of the rotan trade. 



Beyond Cheh-Cheh the stream winds through miles of swamp, 

 with here and there patches of high ground taken up by Chinese 

 gambir and pepper planters, with occasionally large " Kankars" 

 or Chinese villages, each inhabited by several hundred men. 

 The river, although deep and navigable by large sampans and 

 canoes, is very narrow until Kuala Bekok is reached, a distance 

 of about twenty miles from Simpai ; from thence to Kuala Batu 

 Pahat (seventeen miles further) trading steamers ply daily. 



(f.) The Batu Pahat Hills. — 



This small group of hills lies on the east side of the Batu 

 Pahat river, close to the Kuala. 



