GEOGRAPHY. 57" 



" The Coast and Islands between Pah Phra and Prince of 

 " Wales' Island are set down after comparing Horsburgh's, 

 " Forrest's, Blair's, Heather's, Inverarity's, Martin Lindsay's 

 c< and Dapres de Mennevillete's Charts with maps and descrip- 

 tions obtained from several Malayan and Siamese Pilots, as 

 {i well as with what was observed b}' ourselves during 1 our pas- 

 " sage to and from Pungah. Of all the European Charts* the two 

 " oldest, Dupres de Mannevillite's and Martin Lindsay's, appear 

 " by far the most correct. Some information also respecting 1 

 " the towns on the Gulf of Siam and the country round Pungah, 

 c \ was received from Padre Juan, a Native Catholic Priest 

 "residing near that town; and it is but ju-t to acknow- 

 ledge that very great assistance was derived during' the pro- 

 ft gress of the Mission, from the descriptive sketch of the Malayan 

 " Peninsula compiled by Mr. John Anderson, Malay translator 

 " to Government." 



What Capt. Burney says about the superior correctness of th e 

 older charts, now holds good about the older maps ; for nothing 

 has been produced since his date that can vie with his own 

 sketch in practical usefulness or careful execution. Indeed the 

 old Navigators, the Dampiers and Forrests of the 1 7th and 18th 

 centuries, appear to have been succeeded of late years by the 

 Indian Officers, until recently stationed or employed in these 

 parts, — Col. Low, Capts. Burney, Newbold, Begbie, &c.y — to 

 whose eagerness for knowledge we owe so much of the little in- 

 formation we possess about the Malay Peninsula. 



From the time when Logan's Journals ceased to appear a long 

 night settled down upon the Straits, lasting some twenty years. 

 It is difficult for those who were not here before 1871 to realise 

 how little was then known of the Peninsula. Kuala Kangsa 

 and Selama were names unknown ; S. Ujong and Sri Menanti 

 were little better ; Muar, Birnam, Perak, and Kurau could not 

 then be named without an affectation of special, not to say pe- 

 dantic knowledge. I do not believe that any person then knew 

 of the true course of the R. Perak, or of the short route from 

 Larut to Ulu Perak, which I have already called the key to the 

 geography of that part; and as to which it has been seen that 

 Captain Forrest ninety years before had possessed some informa- 

 tion. But within two years of the Pangkor Treaty, thanks to 

 Sir A. Clarke's initiative and the development of events, this 

 state of things was entirely changed. Information had been 

 collected in many districts. The journey from Larut to Perak, 

 and down the latter river, which was performed in 1871 

 by Messrs. Dunlop, Swettenham and Pickering, effected for 



