JOURNEY ACROSS THE MALAY PENINSULA. 50 
in some senses of those flowing into the Straits of Malacca, is 
the furthest North of those rivers which, rising in the main 
range, flow East and West to the Straits of Malacca, both the 
Krian and Muda Rivers being stated to take their rise in 
mountains other than the main chain. The Pahang River 
again is universally admitted to be the longest navigable river 
on either side of the Peninsula, and though we did not descend 
the centre or parent stream, the Jélei, there is probably not 
very much difference in navigable length between that and 
the Lipis, and there is no recoonised crossing from the west- 
ern to the eastern side of the range which would take the tra- 
veller to the head waters of the Jélei, nor any easily navigable 
river on the western side that would lead up to a point on the 
western slopes of the main chain opposite to the source cf the 
Jélei. When it is considered that the measured distance on 
the map from Kuala Bernam to Kuala Pahang is, as the crow 
flies, one hundred and seventy miles, the route by which we 
have travelled covering a distance of four hundred and two 
miles ascending the largest river on the western side of the 
Peninsula and “descending the longest on the eastern, may be 
considered fairly direct. 
The Straits Government steamer Sea Belle arrived on the 
7th, and as I was not able to leave and Captain GILEs seemed 
to be seriously ill, I sent him on to Singapore in the Sea Belle 
on the 8th instant. 
Mr. Lister and I remained at Pékan till the 14th May. In 
that time we saw something of the country in the immediate 
neighbourhood of Pékan, and had many opportunities of talk- 
ing to Malays of all ranks on matters concerning Pahang. 
The Raja Muda of Pahang (brother of the Yam Tian ), who 
had arrived in the Sea Belle, landed on the 8th, and I had the 
pleasure of taking him to the Balei (Audience Hall) and 
seemg him reconciled to his brother. On two other evenings 
I had interviews with the Yam Tian, and he took us to his 
principal house, and let us see the joget danced by ladies of 
his own household. I described these dances and the game- 
fang accompaniment in an early number of the Journal of the 
Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. I noticed that 
on these occasions the company of onlookers was much more 
select than when I first saw the dances, but, as before, the 
