ABOUT K1NTA.. 31 



resembling the lower animals. It is a mistake, I think, to imagine 

 that they are incapable of improvement, as 1 believe some people 

 suppose. The French Missionaries in Malacca have not, I believe, 

 been very successful with the Jakuns, probably a family of the same 

 race, but this may be because they have attempted to do too much 

 at once. About the Bidor I saw a large number of these people, 

 who had almost entirely adopted the Malay customs and habits, 

 and this will probably be the eventual fate of the race when their 

 present haunts are occupied by settlers ; they will become gradually 

 blended with the natives of the country. 



I think I have now said enough to satisfy any one taking an 

 interest in these primitive races that they could not find many better 

 places to study them than here, and if so I shall have fully effected 

 my object. 



From Chindariong it took us one day to reach the Batang 

 Padang river, a large and swift stream. We came on it at a place 

 called Piilau Tiga and followed its course up stream to a large 

 village called Tapa, where we spent a day. While at Tapa w r e 

 visited the place where the headman (Penguin) lived, called Kwala 

 Briimun, and between the two places came upon mica schist 

 rocks in several places. I have found pebbles of this rock in nearly 

 all the other streams, but this was the first time I have seen it 

 in situ in Perak The vegetation undergoes a change here ; along 

 the banks of the stream and for a short distance in on either side, 

 a large species of bamboo grows to the exclusion of everything 

 else. I have seen similar growths of these bamboos in other 

 places, but not to the same extent. The land here appears to be 

 exceptionally rich, the largest ' sugar canes I have ever seen were 

 here. 



The hills begin just above Kwala Brumun, and this would be a* 

 very good starting point for any one wishing to explore them, as 

 there are lots of Sakeis about here who could be got to act as either 

 guides or coolies ; in the latter capacity they are infinitely preferable 

 to any other race, they will carry heavier loads faster than either 

 Mings or Malays. 



Tapa is the place of embarkation {Pengk&lan) for a number of 



extensive tin mines almost entirely worked by Chinese, The tin ore 



