TO LOWER SIAM. 55 



went to sleep. We started at 2 a.m. and stopped again at 

 7-30 in the open sea till 11-30 waiting for the rise of the tide 

 to get into the Perli3 river. On the way up the river I saw a 

 fairly large crocodile plunge off the bank rather clumsily and 

 saw that it had been caught by a hook and could not escape. 

 The natives say that they never take people in this river. 

 After half an hour's stay at Perlis, we steamed for Lankawi 

 islands and arrived about five o'clock at Kwah, where we went 

 ashore for half an hour and collected what plants we could find 

 on the shore. Tacca pinnatifida was abundant and in 

 flower ; we dug up a number of tubers for cultivation. Kwah 

 has much enlarged since I was there many years ago, and a fine 

 rest house is being built. It is a charmingly beautiful spot 

 and should make a delightful holiday place for the people of 

 Penang when comfortable steamers run to it. A Chinaman 

 and an European have started rubber cultivation there, though 

 there does not seem to be any reason for selecting such a spot 

 for this purpose- There was a little rubber cultivation also 

 commenced by natives on the Setul heath. It is difficult now 

 to go over any extensive area of country without seeing some. 

 We arrived at Penang after passing through a heavy rain 

 storm at 2 a.m. and went on shore at sunrise. I left the same 

 day for Singapore and arrived with our collections in good 

 condition. 



THE FLORA. 



There is a very great difference between the floras of 

 this region and that of the Malay Peninsula south of Alor Sta 

 which is best shown by the absence of large or conspicuous 

 genera of the Malay region and the presence of a number of. 

 genera of Burmese type. To some extent this may be caused 

 by a climatic change and the presence of a distinct dry season 

 especially marked in the limestone flora. During this period 

 many 1 of the herbaceous plants completely disappear above 



R. A. Soc, No. 59, I9n. 



