94 the Ekdau a:nh its tuibtjtabies. 



On the night of the 13th August, I left Singapore in a yebeug, 

 lent me by Ungku MfijiD, brother of the Maharaja, with Che 

 Musa, an Official of the Moar Eiver, who was familiar with the 

 Endau, and a motley crew of eight Malays, comprising natives of 

 Johor, Pahang, Trengganu and Kelantan. The Pahang men, as is 

 natural, approximate most nearly in speech to the Johor dialect, 

 but I noticed differences such as " sun gal" for " sungei," &c. The 

 Trengganu men have a sharp, narrow accent, and a way of shorten- 

 ing off their words at the end, such as " sampa " for " sampei ;" 

 they have also a nasal ending as " tuain " (" ain " as in French 

 "bain") for "tuan." The Johor men were constantly laughing at 

 the others for their outlandish accent, but, as they said, what else 

 could be expected from orang bar at — those western folk. (M 



About 3 p.m. on the 16th, or about 3f days after leaving 

 Singapore, we reached the mouth of the Endau, and at 11 a.m. on 

 the 17th, Ave were alongide the steps of the Che Ma Ali's Police 

 Station, which is conveniently situated on a point of land between 

 the converging streams Endau and Sembrong. 



After consultation with Che Ma Ali, I decided to ascend the 

 Sembrong first, and make for its source, this being the trip which 

 would absorb the greater portion of my time. I found it necessary 

 to give up the idea of going to G-uiiong Banang on the Batu Pahat 

 River, in order to make time for a visit to the Madek Jakuns on 

 my return from Hulu Sembrong. The account given of Grimong 

 Janing, which was ascended by Maclav, made me wish very much 

 to attempt the ascent. I was told that ladders had to be constructed 

 to enable them to scale the rocks in some places; that the rocks were 

 very fine, and plants flourished there w r bich were not to be found in 

 other parts of the jungle ; while the view from the top was well 

 worth seeing. In that neighbourhood too, on Sungei Mas, resided 

 the Eaja Benuak, he having removed a year or two before from the 

 Madek, and a visit to him would probably afford the best opportu- 



(*) This may, at first sight, seem a rather strange expression, but 

 a glance at the map will show that, though we may be accustomed 

 to think of these countries as lying to the North and perhaps a 

 little East of us. they really lie to the West of Singapore, or, what 

 is the same thing, Johor Bharu. The same misconception is some- 

 times found ot prevail regarding the relative positions of Liverpool 

 and Edinburgh. 



