ABOUT SLIM AND BERNAM. 37 



spirit of these miners, got certain concessions at Pap an, on the 

 West of the Kinta river, and all the miners followed him there, 

 where, they say, the ore is more plentiful, but more difficult to work. 



As I failed to reach the coal deposits, but was part of the way* 

 to the Bernain, I determined to visit that river, the southern 

 boundary of Perak. before returning to the Ulu Slim. One day's 

 march from Kampong Blit, where I spent the night, took me to 

 Kampong Bernam, it was however a most fatiguing journey, although 

 we went in the lightest marching order ; the small forest leeches 

 (pachat) were more numerous than I ever saw them before. On the 

 way we crossed two considerable streams, and a number of small 

 ones, tributaries of the Slim : the first, Sungei Bil, was a mountain 

 torrent full of rocks ; the second was a navigable river, the Sungei 

 Berong, on which a colony of foreign Malays have settled, and 

 appear to be in a very thriving condition ; where they are settled 

 the country is flat, and they cultivate a good deal of wet padi. 



After leaving the Berong we crossed the spurs of some high 

 hills to the East before reaching the Bernam at Kampong Bernam. 

 The distance from Kampong Chankat on the Slim to Kampong 

 Bernam, I estimate at about twenty miles. I did hot chain this 

 distance, but have been able to plot it approximately by the time 

 and compass bearings. 



Kampong Bernam is a large village on the northern side of 

 the river, said to contain about eighty families, nearly all foreign 

 Malays, who came as traders and have settled permanently. The 

 attraction which first brought them here was the tin-mining, which, 

 as I have already mentioned, has ceased on the Perak side since 

 Raja Asal left. There are still extensive tin-mines being worked 

 on the southern (the Selangor) side of the Bernam, but I was told 

 there are fewer miners now than there used to be. 



From Kampong Bernam there is a well used path leading to 

 Pahang ; the gradient is said to be easy most of the way, but there 

 are two or three places where the path is impracticable for elephants, 

 i.e., tame ones ; it is a curious fact, well authenticated, that wild 

 elephants can pass places where tame ones cannot. Buffaloes are 

 frequently brought by this pass from Pahang into Perak and 



