2 A SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 



the Gap between the limestone mass and the hills is seen a 

 stretch of low-lying country with no hills in the back-ground 

 and over which an earth road has been made from Alor Star 

 to Singapore on the east coast of the Peninsula. This distant 

 range of hills rises to the east of the Singgora road from the 

 beautiful flat padi-fields that surround Alor Star, about nine 

 miles out from the capital, and its prolongation northward can 

 be followed either by travelling along the road or by ascending 

 the Kedah Eiver, when it is seen to enter Siamese territory, 

 and although I cannot say that I have proved the point by 

 following the chain, which along the whole length that I have 

 examined it, is composed of quartzite with clayslate and 

 conglomerate, to its northern limit, there is very good reason 

 to believe that it is continuous as far as Singgora, where 

 sandstone, probably resulting from the weathering of quartzite, 

 is known to form hills. 



Here then we have a barrier of sedimentary rocks trend- 

 ing north and south, and cutting off all the hill ranges of the 

 Peninsula from the Isthmus. I must add that it has been 

 stated that the Lakawn range, which lies to the north-west of 

 this barrier, enters the Peninsula to form the main granite 

 range, and that this statement has found its way into a trans- 

 lation of Suess's great work " Der Antlitz Der Erde," but it 

 is incorrect. No range of hills cuts through this north and 

 south barrier of quartzite and clayslate. The main granite 

 range rises to the east of it, in rugged country about which 

 little is known. 



This range of quartzite and clayslate is of great interest 

 in connection with the present configuration of the Peninsula 

 and also with its past history, but it is only one of several 

 such ranges. 



The most notable of these, both on account of its grandeur 

 and because it contains the highest peak in the Peninsula, is 

 the Tahan Eange, part of which is in Pahang and part in 

 Kelantun. This is composed of quartzite, clayslate and con- 

 glomerate, and is part of a broad outcrop of those rocks that 

 is believed to traverse the whole of Pahang and to reappear in 



Jour, Straits Branch 



