40 ABOUT SLIM AXD BEK3AM. 



mysterious agency in former times. This stone is addressed as 

 the Toh Q-aja, and every one passing is supposed to pluck a hand- 

 ful of grass or leaves, and striking Toh Graja seven times on the 

 breast with them, to ask liim for fine weather for the journey • this 

 ceremony we religiously performed, and having some people in the 

 party familiar with elephants, we were enabled to choose food such 

 as these animals like, and were rewarded by not getting any rain 

 till we returned to Kampong Chankat. The idea about these leaves 

 is that no matter how many are offered in a day the next day no 

 trace of them remains. 



The elevation at Batu G-aja, according to the aneroid, was 

 2,500 feet; this is not actually the highest point in the pass, which is 

 about 200 yards further on, perhaps 50 feet higher. Immediately 

 after crossing the pass a little trickling water is met, which. I was 

 told, was the first beginning of Sungei Sembilan, a tributary of the 

 Pahang river. 



Two hills rose on either side of the pass for at least another 

 1,000 feet : that to the North is called Gunong Petri, the southern 

 one I could not get a name for. No view was to be obtained from 

 the pass, as everything was hidden by a dense growth of gigantic 

 bamboos, which appeared to extend to the summits of both the hills 

 Horth and South of us. These large bamboos appeared to thrive in 

 most of the Slim and Songkei hills, and I have seen a good many of 

 them up the Kinta valley. Different planters express different 

 opinions of them ; in Ceylon, I believe, bamboo land is discredited ; 

 in southern India it is thought the best ; " doctors differ, &c." The 

 state of the weather, the hour of the day, and many other causes 

 appear to have a marked influence on the nature of the soil ; what- 

 ever the cause, no two planters whom I met appear to agree ; 

 query, does any of tbem know anything about it ? 



In this pass I saw the footprints of wild elephants, where, I 

 should have thought, few animals but a goat could have gone, most 

 certainly no tame elephant could have been taken there. 



The return journey from Batu G-aja was uninteresting, as 

 we merely retraced our footsteps. When I reached Kampong 

 Chankat Toh Semptth told me that at Batu Gaja we should be coin* 



