28 ABOTTT KINTA. 



below Kota Bahru, of wliich I hare already spoken. The Kampar 

 is navigable for one-koyan boats to tbe foot of Bujang Malaka, 

 and this hill, or rather I should say short range, can be reached by 

 native boats from Durian Sebatang in about two or three days, 

 according to the state of the river. To the North-west of Bujang 

 Malaka, the Kampar receives a large tributary, the Sungei Dipong, 

 which flows for the East, while the Kampar itself appears to take its 

 rise near the South of GKinong Eobinson. A good view of this 

 country is obtained from the highest peak of Bujang Malaka, about 

 4,200 feet ; from there the Dipong valley is seen stretching away 

 • about twenty or thirty miles to the East, while the course of the 

 Kampar is lost in a labyrinth of high hills to the North, more than 

 a quadrant of the circle of mountain and forest lying between them. 



Here I may also mention that Gopeng, the most important 

 mining centre on this side of the country, employing 700 or 800 

 Chinese, is situated at the southern base of the range separating 

 the Sungei Eaya from the Kampar ; it is about 4 miles' distance 

 from each of them. To the North of Gopeng the mountains begin 

 at once ; to the South, about eight miles' distance, is Kota Bahru. 

 The hills to the North of G-openg, as well as the Kampar valley, 

 Have not yet been visited by an European. 



Starting, as I have already mentioned, from Kwala Kabul or 

 the Kampar, it took us two days in a south-easterly directs 

 through primeval forest almost the whole of the way, to reach the 

 Chindariong river, a navigable stream draining the eastern side of 

 Bujang Malaka and separating Bujang Malaka from hills of about 

 the same height to the East. These hills and those forming the 

 yalley of the Dipong are comparatively thickly inhabited by 

 Sakeis, the aboriginal hill tribes of the country. Wherever I have 

 come across these people, and they are to be met in the valleys of 

 all the rivers to the East and North of this, I have remarked that 

 they are confined to a zone extending from 500 to 1,500, or perhaps 

 2,000 feet; the reason, I imagine, for their not going higher is that 

 probably the crops which they cultivate, hill-padi, tapioca, and 

 occasionally a little tobacco, will be found not to thrive above these 

 elevations ; this is only surmise, but, if it proves correct, may be a 

 guide to future planters as to the alteration in temperature at 

 different elevations. An account of these people has yet to be 

 written, and, if well done, will be a most valuable work viewed 

 from an anthropological point, 



