A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANT FRONTIER. rE 
clears from time to time a few acres of jungle and lays open the 
tract for intending selectors. Any one may select a spot and com- 
mence to dig for tin on condition that he sells all the ore obtained 
to the lord-paramount at a fixed price. The miner usually runs 
into debt with his landlord for the necessaries of life, during the 
infancy of his mine and until a vein of ore has been struck. In 
that case, the value of the ore, instead of being paid for in cash, is 
deducted from the miner’s advance account. In fact the truck 
system flourishes in Salama as it does in most native mining dis- 
tricts, where the owner grows rich at the expense of the coolies by 
charging exorbitant prices for all the staple articles of food. But 
as the Salama mines are supported by borrowed capital, their 
profits are burdened with a ruinous rate of interest to Penang 
money-lenders. 
The population of Salama seemed to be about two thousand. 
It was getting very hot when Mart Dananrt, the Penghulu or 
headman of Ulu Salama, the village which was to be our first halt- 
ing place, arrived with a few ryots. Cur Karrm’s cordial “may 
thy journey be prosperous” was responded to by an equally cordial 
“may thy tarrying be peaceful,” and then we filed out of the village. 
As the sun got higher it was a relief to get out of the clearings 
and to plunge into the shady forest. There was nothing new or 
striking about the scenery. The narrow path winding along be- 
tween lofty trees and flanked on each side by a thick undergrowth 
of brushwood, palms, ferns and creepers might be matched in any 
State in the Peninsula, and probably in Ceylon, Sumatra and Bor- 
neo. Though the forest has many beauties, its density and still- 
ness are depressing, and the general impression left on the mind 
after much jungle walking is one of monotony. We met no one 
during our first day’s journey and saw little sign of man’s presence, 
except here and there traces of charcoal burning and sometimes 
long lines of rollers by means of which some dug-out canoe fashion- 
ed in the jungle had been dragged down to the river; not a bird 
was to be seen or heard, except perhaps when the curious cry of 
the hornbill (enggang) broke the silence. 
In the course of the day we crossed two streams, tributaries of 
the Salama—Sungei Kinalau and Sungei Rambutan. In the after- 
noon we reached Ulu Salama, a small hamlet near the foot of the 
