26 ABOUT KINTA. 



aboriginal inhabitants of the bills, tbe Saheis. The highest hill to 

 be seen from here was said by the natives to be the one in which 

 the Kinta took its rise, I therefore determined that the simplest 

 way to get there was to follow the course of the river. The diary 

 which I kept during the trip was subsequently published by 

 the Straits Government, and from it I extract the following 

 particulars : — 



Starting from Tanjong Benkang, a place just above where the 

 boats can come, which 1 mentioned just now (Mesjid Lama), we 

 reached a place called Kwala S'mat as our first day's march. Here 

 we left the elephants and proceeded on foot. Here we may be said 

 to have just got into the hill country, the elevation by the aneroid 

 being about 700 feet where we camped with the hills on each side 

 of us. A little more than a day's march from this we passed the 

 mouth of the Sungei Penoh, a considerable tributary of the Kinta, 

 which flows from its source about JNT.W. The elevation at its junc- 

 ture with the Kinta is about 1,600 feet. Three days from starting 

 we reached the foot of Gtmong Rayam, the hill for which we had 

 been making, having followed a rather circuitous route, keeping 

 close to the river the whole way. No where along the way were 

 any obstacles to making a road or tramway encountered. 



Erom. this point it took us the best part of a day to reach s 

 shoulder of the first peak, where we encamped at an elevation cons, 

 derably over 4,000 feet. Erom here we obtained a magnificent view. 

 It was, however, a bad camping ground, as we were a considerable 

 distance above water and had left the forest below us ; the vegeta- 

 tion here consisted of flowering shrubs, ferns, and mosses, and it was 

 with difficulty that we found a tree sufficiently large to support our 

 tent. Prom this point Mr. Christie and I, with three or four *&*- 

 keis, started for the top the next morning, expecting to get there in 

 about an hour, but on coming to the first peak we saw several others 

 beyond, and it was after 3 p.m. when we reached the last. As the 

 Sakeis could give us no name for it, we called it G-unong Eobinson, 

 after His Excellency the Governor, and as there was no prospect 

 of getting a view in consequence of the mist, and being 

 hungry and cold with no water between us and the camp, we beat 

 a precipitous retreat to the camp. "We made the height of G-unong 

 Eobinson nearly 8,000 feet. 



