THE SIAMESE MALAY STATES. 61 



the mangrove. Following 1 one branch the river narrows and 

 passes through a great limestone rock — forming a natural arch 

 fringed with stalactites. It was so beautiful with the sun shin- 

 ing on the water seen through the arch that we took several 

 photographs. Having passed under the rock and admired the 

 scene we returned to the mouth of the river leaving for 

 Trang about 9.0 A.M. It was blowing fresh and the sea was 

 pretty rough — a glorious morning with a cool breeze from the 

 land. Passing numberless limestone rocky islands we got under 

 the lee of Pulau Lontar and before dark sighted Telibon Island. 

 Off the Custom House we found the Seabird lying together with 

 the Artsadong which had only just floated off the bank on which 

 we found her when we first arrived at Trang. We slept on 

 deck and had a cool peaceful night. 



Wednesday, 19th December. — At daylight we started in a 

 house boat to see some caves up a river which were said by Mr. 

 Khaw Sim Bee to surpass those of Kedah. The caves are very 

 disappointing and as we had no torches we could not explore 

 them except by match light. It took us three hours to go and 

 return and we regretted the delay as we could not reach the 

 Langkawis before dark. Having taken leave of Mr. Ju Keat 

 who had proved most invaluable to us we made for Pulu Terutau 

 and anchored about 5.0 P. M. under the shelter of a small rocky 

 island separated from the shore, where there were a few native 

 huts, by a narrow channel. We were glad to get into smooth 

 water for the night. We landed and searched for orchids till it 

 got dark but the rock proved barren and unclimbable. Noticing 

 after dinner that we were dragging our anchor and drifting into 

 rough water I got the Captain to let out two fathoms more of 

 cable. 



Thursday, 20th December. — Made an early start for Kuah 

 where we had arranged to meet His Highness the Raja Mud a. 

 It was still blowing fresh from the land. We reached Kuah 

 about 9.0 and found the Raja Mud a who had expected us the 

 night before had gone on to Dayang Bunting so we followed. 

 His small steamer was at anchor. He came on board and we 

 went through an inland sea of wooded islands till we came to a 

 small bay where we anchored and went ashore in boats to a long 

 temporary jetty put up years ago for the King of Siam. We 



