THE ENDAU AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 107 



rather at Kampong Padang, about three-quarters of a mile from the 

 mouth of the Endau, I found a Trengganu Chinaman just started 

 with a new house, and cultivating the ground round him ; he an- 

 nounced his intention of putting up fishing stakes till the N. E. 

 monsoon set in. He is, [ believe, the only Chinaman on the Jolior 

 side of the Endau; he was a Trengganu born man, and had 

 kept a shop and opened a gambier plantation there, but he 

 said he could not stand the ways of the present Sultan, and 

 had resolved to try his luck elsewhere ; though he described 

 the country as a fine one, and likely to be prosperous and open- 

 ed up if industrious folk get a fair chance. If this were a soli- 

 tary case, the story might raise suspicion against the narrator, but I 

 believe no one has a good word to say for the present Sultan of 

 Trengganu. With regard to the Kwala Endau, and the N. E. mon- 

 soon, which, of course, greatly hampers communication and trade, 

 our friend the Chinaman said that vessels lie behind Tanjong Kem- 

 pit for water, and it is not impossible that the extension of a small 

 breakwater beyond it, or from Keban Darat, might make a safe 

 place even during the N. E. monsoon. 



On the 2nd September, having re-ascended the Sembrong a bit, 

 we entered the Kahang, a stream which takes its rise in Gunong 

 Bhimut, and about 3.15 p.m. we reached Kwala Madek (Jahun 

 kampong). Here we put up for the night, and were detained till 

 the 4th, Che Mahomed Ali's promised JaTcuns not being ready, 

 but engaged at another Icampong preparing for a rattan-collecting 

 expedition into the jungle on behalf of some Malay traders we 

 found here. These latter, however, went up the river after them 

 the evening of our arrival, and succeeded in stopping them, to my 

 satisfaction, for my time was drawing very short. One of these 

 traders was a Batu Bahara man ; he seemed to be quite a travelled 

 man, knowing a good deal of the Peninsula, as well as Sumatra. 

 Among his experiences in the latter country, was three years' trading 

 in the Battak country. He described the Battaks as being divided 

 into three tribes, and spoke highly of their prosperity and power ; 

 the mountain tribes he praised as remarkably good horsemen, stating 

 that they rode their ponies recklessly down steep slopes at full 

 speed, and sometimes stood on their ponies' backs, instead of riding 

 astride them. He was very enthusiastic on the Achinese question, 



