128 MY TRIP TO BELUM. 



On Thursday, the 4th August, Wan Husein went back to 

 Betong. He showed me Hedgeland's map, with the new 

 boundary marked on it, at Bangkok. He has been very 

 friendly. 



We left Belum on our return journey at 8 a.m., on Friday, 

 the 6th August, and reached the rafts (rakit rembau) at 3 p.m., 

 on the 7th at a place called Lobok Jerai (the pool of the ara 

 tree). They were very comfortable and we slept on them. 

 Sixteen bamboos are tied together with rattan : they form the 

 main deck, 48 feet long by 5i feet wide. Under them are lash- 

 ed five pairs of bamboos to raise the deck and also to act as a 

 fender to it. In the centre of the deck is built the rumah or 

 house, 11 by b\ feet. It is raised 15 inches off the main deck 

 by three bamboos crosswise, resting on three length-wise, and 

 on the top is a flat flooring of split bamboo. Sticks are tied on 

 to the sides of the house and a tent hung over them forms the 

 roof. Five men pole them, one of whom in the bow is chosen 

 for his intimate knowledge of the rapids which have to be 

 negotiated. 



Before dinner the cast-net was taken out and 35 fish were 

 caught, a large and two small Icelak, some rong, tenyalan and 

 krai. 



On the 8th August, I got off in the leading raft at 7.30., 

 saw a deer which one of the men frightened away by shouting, 

 and had a long shot at and missed a jungle fowl. It was a 

 cloudy, cool morning with a fresh breeze, and the scenery, 

 together with the excitement of the rapids, was quite entranc- 

 ing. We went over sixteen rapids before we got to Tapong 

 10.45 and Perenggan 11.10. Only one of them was really ex- 

 hilarating— Jeran Bruah. You go down it in two big jumps. 

 It is half way between and close to two rivers. The upper is 

 Sungei Klian Mas (the river of the gold mine), and is so called 

 because a number of Chinese were mining there years ago. 

 There is doubtless gold still left. The other, Sungei Tiang, is 

 quite a respectable stream. Five or six miles up it there are 

 abandoned orchards of durians and cocoanuts, which are said 

 to belong to the Mengkong of Temengor. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



