144 MY VISIT TO KLIAX 1NTAN. 



in exactly two hours, and on my second visit Jelf and I did it 

 in the same time. The road is quite impossible in gradient, 

 and rain makes the clay soil very slippery. It is pleasant to 

 descend into the beautiful open plateau of Kroh. 



At Becha Deradap, corrupted by the mines' people into 

 Cheradap, Mr. Kemp and Mr. Pearse each have a store, and 

 the Siamese have an Inspector of Mines, a Customs House, 

 and a Hospital which has never been used. It was erected 

 by the munificence of certain persons as a memorial of the 

 Siamese Administration, and it is an excellent building of 

 squared timber with a shingle roof. 



There are a few shops and a considerable peasant popula- 

 tion planting padi. The road from Betong through the Kroh 

 plateau ends here. Near by is the charming natural lake at 

 Tasik, a curious phenomenon of which is that it is periodically 

 half emptied by what appears to be a natural siphon in the 

 shape of a deep hole some distance from the main lake, the 

 water re-appearing about two miles away. 



This lake occupies about 25 acres of ground when fairly 

 full. It is one of the very few 7 natural lakes in Malaya. It is 

 most picturesque, and at one end of it is a very ancient and 

 quaint Buddhist temple, which ought to be repaired in old 

 style and preserved. We camped by the lake that night. 



On Tuesday, the 15th June, we broke camp at 8.30 and 

 Anderson and I walked on ahead, 5-z miles in If hours, into 

 Baling, a Kedah Station, where Che Mat Deli, the Malay 

 Magistrate, entertained us. Baling is one of the most beauti- 

 fully-situated places I have ever seen. It is on the banks of 

 a big river (the Ketil), and just across the river, rising 

 perpendicularly, is an immense limestone rock as like as 

 possible to Gunong Pondok at Padang Rengas, only more 

 covered by vegetation. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Pearse each have 

 a comfortable house at Baling on the river bank, and all their 

 tin is shipped there in boats for Penang. The little town was 

 decorated in our honour with flags and Che Mat Deli turned 

 out a guard and the whole population. A fine new Police 

 Station and Barracks have been built by the Kedah 



[our. Straits Branch 



