MALAYAN PENINSULA. ]39 



principal rocks occupy a line of about ten miles, in a north and south 

 direction. The northern extremity lies behind the town and valley of 

 Phunga ; the southern rests in the sea, about four miles from the mouth 

 of the Phunga river. Their direction, therefore, is nearly that of the 

 Trang rocks. The part of the range, lying in the sea, consists of nume- 

 rous detached rocks of different elevations, and mostly inaccessible. The 

 height does not in any instance, I should state, exceed live hundred feet, and 

 seldom falls short of two hundred. One of them has a very columnar aspect, 

 which might lead a distant spectator to suppose it was basaltic. They 

 are all, however, chiefly composed of, I suppose, primary limestone, 

 and like the rocks which have been already described, exhibit no traces 

 of organic remains. Some of the specimens of stalactite, which have 

 been presented to the Society, were taken from one of a series of grottos 

 in and near the base of one of the Phuiifra rocks. These caverns are 

 about six feet above high water mark. The roofs are low, and seldom 

 exceed ten feet in height, and they look as if supported by the natural 

 pillars of spar, which have been gradually formed by filtration from the 

 top. Several of the stalactites have barely reached the floor — others 

 touch the floor, and a double formation is going on. The sides of the 

 grottos are lined with the same calcareous spar. 



There is an insulated rock near this spot, which is perforated by a 

 grand natural tunnel. To the top of the arch the height is about twenty 

 feet, and grotesque-shaped stalactites depend from above the entrances 

 from the roof. A boat can get within the arch. 



The valley of Pliunga is about three miles long by one, on an. 

 average, in breadth, being oval-shaped, and widest near the sea. It is 

 hemmed in, to east and west, by rocks and hills. Those on the west are 

 least abrupt, and seem mostly granitic ; those on the east have a very 



picturesque 



