36 A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANI FRONTIER, 
- stream, the ‘Ayer Naksa, which we followed up to its source in the 
« 0) 
‘hills of the same name. The general direction was North. At the 
summit of Bukit Naksa I found myself ‘at the place” popularly 
assigned as the boundary between Perak and Patani. 
In all the Native States of the Peninsula, the interior of the 
country is under forest, roads are almost unknown, and communica- 
tion by land difficult. The rivers are the main arteries by which 
trade is carried on, and it ison the banks of rivers and on the sea 
coast that the bulk of the Malay inhabitants are to be found. It 
follows, therefore, that the inland boundaries of the various States 
generally have reference to the watershed, a particular river being 
generally found to belong in its whole course to one particular 
State. Thus the State of Kedah, or rather the southern portion 
of it which is nearest to- Penang, extends as far to the East as the 
sources of the Muda and the Krian. So Perak owns all the terri- 
tory through which the Kinta river flows, right up to the source 
‘of that river in the mountains, beyond which is Pahang. Reason- 
ing from this analogy one would expect to find the Perak river, in 
its whole length contained in one kingdom, and there is no doubt 
that at no distant time Perak jurisdiction extended much further 
to the North and North-east than Bukit Naksa and Jeram Panjang.* 
The ancient boundary, say the Perak Malays, was at Gunong 
Jambul Mrak+ (Peacock’s crest mountain). Here, before the sins 
of mankind caused such’ prodigies to disappear, the Creator had, 
out of solicitude for the peace of Perak and Patani, placed a 
 miraculeus tree (kakabut), the blossoms of which were white on 
* the side turned towards Perak and red on the side turned towards 
Patani. This, it is to be feared, no longer exists. 
* Malay Kingdoms are agglomerations of river settlements, and I 
doubt if a single instance can be found where ariver district is politically 
divided by the river.”—J. R. Logan, Jour. Ind. Arch., vol. v., p. 64. 
+ ANDERSON, in his Considerations, calls this mountain Sablah. Speaking 
- of the river Muda he says: “Its source is at the foot of the mountain 
“ Sablah” in the Patani country. On the opposite side, the Patani river, 
which empties itself on the eastern side of the Peninsula, also takes its 
rise, and it is positively asserted by the Malays that the Perak river has 
_its.source at.the. base of.the. same mountain, which is remarkable, the 
~ mouth of the” two livers being’ d fista nt about a degree anda half of 
Tatiade 
