A JOURNEY ON FOOT TO THE PATANI FRONTIER. 65 
we stopped once all day. The principal places passed were Sungei 
Limau and Kubang Panjang (right bank) ; Kuala Kupane (mouth 
of the Kupang river); Kamoong Lela, where there was a consi- 
derable patch of sugar-cane; Kuala Pegang ;* Kotumbah ; Kuala 
Balu; Mangkwang; Kuala Kijang (river and village); Tawah ; 
Sungei Soh Kudong (a clearing on the left bank) ; Besah; Kuala 
Injun; Kampong Tiban and Padang Gias. 
At Mangkwang our boat was for a few moments a scene of the 
liveliest commotion. From my place, under the mat-awning aft, 
I heard shouts of alarm forward. All the men yelled to one 
another at once so that I could catch no intelligible words at first, 
and, the view ahead of me being interrupted by squatting figures 
and hanging clothes and weapons, it was impossible to see what 
the impending danger was. When, however, those nearest to me 
eaught the infection, and, yelling 1%b2 (bees), threw themselves 
down and pulled their jackets or the nearest garments available 
over their heads, I understood that we had encountered a swarm 
of bees and lost no time in seeking shelter under the mosquito 
curtain. The swarm was following the course of the river up- 
stream, finding no doubt that the open passage through the forest, 
formed by the channel of the river, afforded an easy route for 
emigration. They passed right over our boat from stem to stern, 
A few of the men were stung, but the unfortunate steersman 
suffered most, for he could not leave the rudder to seek protection. 
At Tiban the river winds so much as to form a loop, and, in order 
to avoid the fatigue and delay of going a long distance only to 
return to nearly the same point azain, the Malays have cut an 
artificial channel connecting the two sides of the loop. This cutting 
is called Sungei Trus, and the reach at which we emerged at the 
other end bears the name of Rantau Goah Petai. Both at Tiban 
and at Padang Gias the boatmen made strenuous efforts to soften 
my determination to proceed, but I was inexorable. It was pitch- 
dark before we reached Padang Gias, the last place on the Giti at 
which camping was possible, there being no other clearing until 
* At Kuala Pegang and other places there were ratts of telegraph 
poles destined for the construction of a line of telegraph from Kedah to 
Siam, a useful work, which has never, I believe, been carried out. 
