MALAYAN PENINSULA. I37 



are several hills discernible from this place ; but little information was 

 obtained regarding the great range. The young Raja of Ligor informed 

 me, that the pass, betwixt the hills, is difficult ; but as he rode his ele- 

 phant the whole way on several occasions, his account is no doubt exag- 

 gerated. 



Most of the small islands, lying betwixt Trang and Junk-ceylon, seem, 

 for the greatest part, composed of granite. It prevails in the latter island, 

 and here again tin appears in proximity to, or interspersed in it, and its 

 debris. 



A range of hills, the highest of which, I believe, will not be found 

 to exceed one thousand feet, stretches longitudinally through the island, 

 with one large break in the middle. The island was probably once joined 

 to the mainland, since the Papra Strait, which separates the two, is 

 narrow and rocky. The island, when I visited the interior in 1824, had a 

 population of six thousand souls (Siamese.) 



The tin formation seems to run in a continuous line from the southern 

 extremity of the Peninsula up to about 15° N. Latitude. Beyond this point 

 neither Burmans nor Siamese have discovered any mines. But as the 

 countries, lying on both sides of the great belt of mountains, are, perhaps 

 to a distance of twenty miles, respectively, from the skirts of the latter, 

 inhabited by wild tribes of Karians, uninterested in the search for this 

 metal only, it is probable that tin does exist in these latitudes. It shews 

 itself again in Tliamph, one of the provinces of the Shan, as the Bur- 

 mans term the inhabitants, and lying, if I can depend on the distances 

 given to me by natives of the country, in about 20° N. Lat. and Long. 99*- 

 100. The natives call themselves Plait. They are shorter in stature than 

 1 the Burmans, and their features partake much of those of the Chinese. 



M 2 There 



! 



