52 A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANI FRONTIER. 
was in undress, the blue jacket of the day before being dispensed 
with, and the shaving-brush was more striking than ever. He had 
sent on messengers to his own village, he said, to let the people 
know that we should pass by, and he hoped that I was not taking 
more than twenty men. Heads were counted, and it was found 
that the number agreed upon had not been exceeded. The peaks 
of Gunong Kendrong and Gunong Kernei are very striking fea- 
tures in the landscape as viewed from this village. Their steep 
conical peaks are very unlike the rounded undulating ranges 
(granitic) elsewhere so common. I should imagine that they are 
composed of limestone, but they were too distant to allow of my 
visiting them Scen from some points, the two peaks appear to be 
close together, but I was assured that they are a long distance 
apart, 
- After leaving Grih we entered the forest and struggled for some 
hours over one of the worst jungle paths that I can imagine pos- 
sible even in a Malay jungle. It may be described as a network 
of roots of trees separated from each other by deep elephant tracks 
which the recent rains had filled with water. There was hardly a 
square yard of sound footing in a mile of it. At last, crossing a 
little river (Ayer Kernei), we reached open ground again, and, pass- 
ing through some fields, came in sight of a grove of fruit trees, 
which concealed from view the houses of Kernei. At the entrance 
of the village we became aware of the presence of three or four 
armed men at a stile across the path. They told us that we were 
to take the lower path, and must not march through the kampong. 
This was altogether too unfriendly, and I heard significant growls 
behind me at this latest evidence of Patani suspicion. We did not 
take the lower path through the padi fields, and the few lads with 
ladings (Malay swords) who guarded the entrance moved aside 
with some alacrity when we made for the opening. They made no 
rejoinder to a good humoured remark that we had come too far to 
be willing to return without having a look at Kernei, of which we 
had heard so much. There was not much to see. There was the 
usual group of atap houses scattered about irregularly under the 
cocoanut trees; the Chief’s own house was not distinguishable 
from the bem by any architectural pretensions. My excellent 
