22 THE FLORA OF LOWER SIAM. 



hundred feet. Similar scenery may be seen in Langkawi, 

 but on a much reduced scale. On arrival in Kasum I sent my 

 letters of introduction to the Governor with a request for an 

 empty house if possible. In a short time I received a message 

 that the Governor was suffering from fever and would not be 

 able to see me for two or three days, but a house was being 

 prepared for me. This was the one decent looking house in 

 the village, originally intended, I was told, for a Post Office; 

 but as soon as the men commenced cleaning it out it was 

 found to be unsafe, so I had to go into a Chinese attap house 

 in the main and only street. For a place of its size, and it is 

 a village of about 100 houses, and perhaps 700-800 inhabi- 

 tants, Kasum is the most miserable looking place I ever set 

 eyes on. The main street is overgrown with weeds and in 

 places knee deep in mud. On either side are tall bamboo leaning 

 at all angles with the remnants of banners dangling in the 

 breeze, the remains of the decorations of some religious 

 festival long past. The houses are of plank and attaps with 

 very sharply pitched roof and a sort of covered five-foot 

 way in front, but it is only in places that one can cross 

 from one side of the street to the other without sticking in the 

 mud. A few days' residence in this place has a most depress- 

 ing effect. The morning after arrival, I collected orchids, &c 

 along a road that was commenced 3 or 4 years ago and cut 

 for a distance of about 4 miles to a place called Wattam, 

 where there is a Bhuddist Temple in a cave in the limestone 

 rock with numerous figures rapidly going to decay. . One of 

 the figures in a reclining position is about 45 feet long. I 

 spent some time in botanizing on this hill and collected 

 several interesting plants. One of the priests showed me a 

 plant of Dendrobium F'armerii fastened on a block of wood, 

 which he assured me was very rare, and, so far as my 

 experience goes, it is so, for I only collected two plants of it 

 during the time I was there. 



When the road to this place was commenced it was 

 intended to carry it on to Pongah and fine hard-wood beams 

 were brought in for bridging the streams and posts for tele- 



Jour. Straits Branch 



