JOURNEY ACROSS THE MALAY PENINSULA. 3L 
Buntu, and three hundred and ninety-five miles from Kuala 
Bernam, while there remains another seven miles or so to the 
mouth of the river. 
There is much to admire in this place. Specially striking to 
any one acquainted with the other Native States is the appear- 
ance of the village on the banks of this large river, here about 
fifteen hundred yards wide, with the picturesque house rafts 
moored not only along the bank of the river and in face of 
the Yam Titan’s various houses, but along the shores of the 
islands which here stud the stream. 
These islands are the most beautiful feature of the place ; 
they are large, covered with cultivation in the shape of palms, 
the cocoa-nut, betel and jagaree, or with flowering trees and 
shrubs aud fine short grass. The raft we occupy is moored 
to the shore of one of these islands just opposite the new 
mosque of Pékan, and between us and the opposite bank of 
the river are three considerable islands with wide stretches of 
water in between. 
On shore in the village there are four notable buildings-—the 
new mosque in the angle made by a small stream or canal 
coming in to the niver from the right bank; one hundred and 
fifty yards higher up a new brick house such as those occupied 
by Europeans in Singapore; one hundred and fifty yards fur- 
ther on, the old mosque, a building with far more to recommend 
it as regards appearance than the new one; and immediately 
to the right rear of the mosque the Yam Ttan’s principal 
house, a building which, as far as I could judge, is as satisfactory 
in its accommodation as it is pleasing to the eye. This house, 
which was built without any plan, is said to have cost $25,000, 
and is worth the money. 
The Yam Tutan’s Balet or Audience Hall is an indifferent 
structure inside the enclosure of another and less pretentious 
house, which stands half way between the old mosque and the 
new one. 
The business part of the village is of the most wretched 
description. Two small rows of the veriest hovels, built on 
either side of the main road, containing in all forty or fifty 
dwellings constitute the “bazaar” of the principal place in 
Pahang. As long as the customs of the country are such 
that Chinese don’t find it to their advantage to settle here, 
