224 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



There is yet a great deal more to be learnt about the interior 

 of the Peninsula. How ignorant we all are at present of its 

 Physical Geography, viewed as a whole, may be judged from 

 the correspondence in the local papers last September, after 

 the ascent of Mount Robinson, regarding the "true backbone" 

 of the Peninsula; witness the following letter, challenging 

 certain foregone conclusions on this subject which are undoubted- 

 ly premature at present :— 



Singapore, October 1st, 1878. 



" You will perhaps allow me to correct an error in the Over- 

 land Summary of las* Saturday, in which you state that Mr. 



Christie's party found that from ' ; Mount Robinson" the Straits 

 of Malacca were visible on the West, and the China Sea on the 



East." 



" The only full account of the journey yet published is to be 

 found in Mr. Leech's Diary; and if you refer to your issue of 

 the 21st ultimo, you will rend,"" we were disappointed in get- 

 " ting a view to the East, which was our principal inducement 

 tw to come here, as we were surrounded by a sea of mist, which 

 " however lay a long way below us. Through it we could see 

 "the tops of numerous Peaks, sticking up like islands" 



U A Ceylon paper, from which you made some extracts on 

 the 26th ultimo, reports Mr, Christie to have said, " a third 

 range marked on the map was non-existent." But to judge 

 from Mr. Leech's account there is scarcely enough evidence to 

 pronounce an opinion, even on this point, However that may 

 be, it is certain these places lie in the latitude of the Penin- 

 sula's greatest width, where, if we may trust the Admiralty 

 charts, it is three degrees of longitude, or upwards of 200 miles, 

 from sea to sea. 



'• In short the interior of Pdrak is not the interior of the 

 Peninsula; while as yet we have learnt but little even of 

 Perak, beyond its coasts and rivers; and it may safely be stated 

 that neither from Perak nor any other of the States between 

 Kedah and Johor, has any person yet penetrated so far into 

 the mountain-ranges of the Peninsula, as to obtain a view of 

 the China Sea. It will be a feat of no great difficulty to 

 achieve, and it will no doubt be accomplished before long ; but 

 in the meantime 1 should be sorry to see you under-rate the 

 amount of country still lying terra incognita, or the necessity 

 for some further exploration into the interior."' 



This necessity is well understood by the present energetic ad- 

 ministration of Pojak, for as has already been mentioned an ex- 



