A TRIP TO GUNONG BLUMUT. 9& 



on the right. At 3.35 we went over Lobang Ajar with 

 powerful current and whirlpool. At 4.5 p. m. on our left 

 was Pasir Berhala (idol sand) of which no clear account 

 was given. At: 4.36 had half an hour's work in cutting 

 through a tree fallen across the stream, and now the oppor- 

 tunity was taken of cutting some poles for " gala" to punt 

 us along with, and we certainly got along half again as fast 

 as with the paddles. At 4. 18 p. m. we passed Pulau Tan- 

 jong Putus, at 5. 37 Lubok tirok, at 6.6 p. m. Sungei Teng- 

 kil. Jungle can be touched on both sides. At 6.19 Sungei 

 Machap flows in to the right. After cutting our way through 

 more fallen trees, we reached Gaj ah Minah (where Messrs. 

 Hill and Yahya had put up for a night), about 5 minutes 

 past 7. p. m. For more than half an hour we had been en- 

 joying a delicious evening with the light of the young moon ; 

 I could not ascertain how this place had got its name. The 

 only sign of humanity about it is a very elementary sort of 

 shanty, which scarcely deserves the name of hut, and looks 

 as if half a roof had fallen to the ground and had been after- 

 wards propped up by sticks in a slanting position ; we pre- 

 ferred the jalor for sleeping quarters, the shanty and its 

 neighbourhood abounding in leeches. The said shanty was 

 put up by a rattan-cutter; we were told that a Chinaman 

 had been carried off here by a tiger one } r ear ago, and a 

 Malay two years ago. We must have had to cut through a 

 dozen trees or more during the day. Every now and again 

 everything had to be taken out of the boat and put on a tree 

 and then the boat could just scrape under, we were also con- 

 stantly having to lie flat ; about three hours were lost with 

 these constant stoppages. During the wet season, it is only 

 the Lcnggiu in which snags, etc. are so unpleasantly fam- 

 iliar ; the Johor is free from them as far as boats of light 

 draught are concerned, indeed during our trip, a steam 

 launch could quite well have gone up as far as the mouth of 

 the Lenggiu. The Johor river is certainly a fine one, but 

 in the Leiv_'giu, though narrower, the beauty of the scenery 

 increases ; some of the winding bits are wonderfully lovely, 

 rattans everywhere adding to their charm and variety with 

 their beautiful featherlike sprays ; the monkey-ropes 

 hanging gracefully here and there, their pale tint Homing 

 out with delicious contrast the cool dark green of the leafy 

 walls around them. In places the under soil has the pre- 

 vailing red hue of Singapore but it is mostly sandy, though 

 occasionally it appears to be of a better quality, Now and 

 again whitish clay under-lies the red. 



