36 



ABOUT SLIM AND BEIINAM, 



After a day's rest Mr. Smith and I separated for a short time : 

 he starting to visit a hill up the valley of the Galetin, while I went 

 down the river to see the kampongs and the people, intending, if 

 possible, to visit some deposits of coal, which are said to exist about 

 here. The first part of my programme was most successful, as I saw 

 a number of very nourishing kampongs, all, with one exception, on 

 the East (left) bank of the river ; these kampongs are situated on 

 spots of high ground surrounded by stretches of wet padi land 

 Irrigated by a number of small streams flowing from the hills to 

 the East. The large majority of the inhabitants are foreign Malays, 

 principally Mandclings, and their style of cultivation is certainly 

 superior to that* of the Malays in other parts of Perak, for which 

 they reap their reward in the crops they get. The average yield, 

 they tell me, from the wet padi land is of 800 to 1,000 gantangs of 

 padi to the orlong, this, be it remembered, from land cultivated year 

 after year without manure. 



The lowest kampong on the Slim is Kampong Pindras, and here 

 I was to have got guides to take me to the coal deposits, but when I 

 got there, the man, a Sakei, was away, and others who said they 

 thought they knew the road, stated that it would take them two or 

 three days to find it, so, as I had no time to spare, I gave up the hope 

 of finding the coal, and contented myself with a specimen which I 

 got from the Pengulu. This is, I think, unmistakably coal, of an 

 inferior quality no doubt, but good coal is not often found on the 

 surface. If the Sarawak coal mining proves a success, it might tempt 

 some enterprising capitalist to commence operations here, the 

 facilities for transport offered by a navigable river are not to be 

 lost sight of. 



The Slim, as far as Kwala Galetin, is navigable for boats of 

 over a koyan. I saw one there when I passed that had come from 

 the Kwala Bernam to buy rice, a decided sign of prosperity when 

 the people grow more food than they consume. In no other part of 

 south-eastern Perak is this the case ; it must, however, be borne in 

 mind that tin-mining is the principal industry on the other rivers, 

 and that no tin has been worked on the Slim since the disturbances 

 consequent on the murder of Mr. Birch, not through the failure 

 of the mines, but because the miners were obliged to leave at that 

 time, as the blockade prevented their getting supplies brought up to 

 them. "When peace was restored, Eaja Asal ? who was the leading 



