236 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



:c liis head and body, and became a fearful tedong sclah, or 

 " hooded snake, the girth of which was that of a cocoanut 

 " tree, whose tongue was lolling out and whose eyes were 

 x large as cymbals. The people amazed dispersed, and a few 

 •' daring persons remained and beat the snakes. Then again 

 :i they assembled in greater numbers, with loud shouts and 

 :c noise, to destroy the snake. The latter pursued the Raja, who 

 u sought for shelter behind a tree" 



A MALAY KKAMAT. 



The mining district of Larut in Perak is so essentially a 

 Chinese settlement that its early Mala}- history is generally 

 completely lost sight of. Before the discovery of tin in 

 Larut, some thirty or forty years ago, Trong, which is fur- 

 ther south, was the port from which traders and merchandise 

 found their way to Parit Gantang and Kwala Kangsa. It is 

 still a thriving district and likely to increase in importance,, 

 but it has been eclipsed for many years by Larut. The old 

 plantations of fruit trees at Trong mark it at once as a much 

 older settlement than Larut, where cultivation is in its in- 

 fancy. Trees are among the few traces which the Malay 

 leaves of his occupation ; he does not build stone walls and 

 seldom erects permanent monuments of any kind. Ancient 

 groves of durian trees, planted no one can say when or by 

 whom, may sometimes sheAv where a populous Kampong must 

 at one time have been established ; but in all other respects 

 a deserted Malay settlement became undistinguishable 

 jungle in a very few years. 



Local tradition in Perak has handed down various stories 

 connected with Achinese invasions of Perak, which must 

 have taken place in the 16th and 17th centuries, and there 

 is little doubt of the truth of the popular account which 

 makes the coast settlements, now called Larut and Trong, 

 the scene of some of the encounters between the invaders 

 and the people of the country. For a long time Perak was 

 a mere dependency of Achcen, and it may be fairly supposed 

 that some of the conquerors settled in the former country. 



Sightly or wrongly the Malays of Larut assign an Achinese 

 origin to an old grave which was discovered in the forest 

 some years ago, and of which I propose to give a brief descrip- 

 tion. It is situated about half-way between the Larut 

 [Residency and the mining village of Kamunting. In the 

 neighbourhood the old durian trees of Java betoken the pre- 



