KELANTAN AND GUN'ONG TA11AX. 3 



which in the rainy season often overflows its banks, was now 

 nearly dried up, so we had great difficulty in getting- up stream 

 with the three large house boats that the Rajah supplied for me 

 and my men. The river is about 250 yards wide at Kota Bahru, 

 and continues to be about the same width up to Sungie Lebeh, 

 which river falls into the Kelantan river from the right, thirty to 

 forty miles up stream. The banks of the river up to Quala Lebeh 

 are pretty thickly populated, and are lined with coconut 

 groves most of the way. It took us four days to reach Quala 

 Lebeh, as we had only one gang of men to pole the boats, and 

 consequently had to stop at night. I decided to try first to 

 get to Gunang Tahan by the Lebeh river, as that, according to 

 my idea, was the nearest way, and we therefore proceeded up 

 that river for another day, when the rapids were reached, and 

 we had to stop, as it was impossible to get our heavy boats over 

 them. 



On the way up the river we had passed a number of bamboo 

 rafts, with small huts built on them, either moored along the 

 banks, or drifting slowly down stream. They were inhabited by 

 Malays from Kota Bahru, who go up stream to trade or to 

 plant paddy, and prefer living on the river rather than ashore. 

 When therefore a suitable place is found, these people make a 

 raft and build a hut thereon, wherein they live until they have 

 traded away or exchanged all their goods for jungle produce, 

 whereon they drift down stream with their barter or their 

 paddy. 



Just below the rapids a number of these rafts were moored, 

 forming a floating village on the river ; and as I had to 

 wait there some days before I could get smaller boats to take 

 me up river one of these huts was given up to me, and I dis- 

 charged the three large boats and sent them back to Kota Bahru, 

 as they were of no further use to me. I had to wait a 

 week at this place before I got smaller boats and other men, to 

 take me further up river, and in the meantime, I and my col- 

 lectors that I had brought with me from Borneo, did a little 

 collecting ; but the species found there were of little interest 

 being the same as are found everywhere in the low land of the 

 Peninsula. At last we got away again in three smaller boats, ail 

 heavily loaded ; and for the next few days we had a very rough 



