) A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANI FRONTIER. — 
early breakfast, everything was packed, and the party moved off in 
single file to Cue Asput Kariw’s kampong, on the Krian river. 
The path lay through recently cleared land, on which the stumps of 
trees still stuck up in all directions. Plantains and Indian corn 
seemed to flourish remarkably well. A bridge formed by the trunk 
of a tree, felled so as to rest on either bank of the Salama river, 
leads into Cue Karim’s village. He had promised to have guides 
and two or three coolies ready at his house in the morning, so 
thither we repaired accordingly ; externally the dwelling in question 
is not more pretentious than most of the other houses in the village, 
being built simply of wood and atap (palm-leave thatch). I ful- 
filled my promise of paying the owner a visit, while waiting for the 
guides, who were as unpunctual as most Malays. 
Sitting on a comfortable carpet spread in the narrow room, or 
verandah, which forms the front of most Malay houses, Con Karr 
and I discussed native politics to the accompaniment of some very 
good tea (the milk was Swiss, the biscuits English). The lower 
end of the verandah was gradually filled with Malays, and if I did 
not misconstrue certain whisperings and the agitation of a curtain 
before the door-way which communicated with the inner rooms, 
the ladies of the house were also interested spectators of the inter- 
view. 
About five years ago, when Larut, the principal tin-producing 
district of Perak, was the scene of a desultory conflict between rival 
factions of Chinese professedly supporting rival Malay interests, 
Cue ABpuL Karim emigrated with a number of his countrymen 
from Larut, where all mining operations were ata standstill, and 
sought a new sphere of industry. They found what they wanted 
at Salama, then unexplored, for the place, besides possessing valu- 
able deposits of tin ore, has good soil and climate and easy water- 
communication with Penang. Mines were established, and a flour- 
ishing settlement soon sprung up. But with the restoration of 
peace and order in Larut early in 1874, there came fresh anxieties 
for the miners of Salama, for the neighbouring native potentates 
who had not troubled their heads about the place when it was un- 
distinguishable jungle, took a deep interest in the prosperous 
mining district which was capable of contributing a handsome ad- 
dition to the revenue of a Malay Raja in the shape of the custo- 
