4 



soil. 



the inconvenience of distance and consequent enhance- 

 ment in the puv of labourers and cost of convening 

 produce to town. * Some of the swampy land, before 

 alluded to, ltjii^hl he rendered available to the planter 

 by deep draining, trenching ;i nd raising ; bin very 

 partial attempts only have been made to attain these 

 purposes, for agriculturist have rarely deviated from 

 old and half obsolete customs. Tbe richest soil, could 

 it be recovered from the sea, is that in which (lie 

 mangrove growa — being couij>osed of tbe finest allu- 

 vions of the continental rivers and the bill streams of 

 Peuang, which are carried by the currents and depo- 

 sited along the coasts. The process of recovery is 

 now slow ly going along the coast of Province Welles- 

 ley, by the recession of the sea, or rather by the depo- 

 sitions alluded to. 



The soil in Province Wellealey by no means 

 uniform in quality, The coast line exhibits a narrow 

 sandy belt of low land to the northward and eastward, 

 while to tbe southward the arable or habitable tracts 

 are hemmed in. excpiing in a few high poh.ls, by a 

 broad mud, flat covered with mangrove trees, and 

 which is flooded at high water. Beyond the sandy 

 belt and mangrove are extensive alluvial tracts under 

 rice cultivation, alternating v it I j ridges of light scriJ run- 

 ning parallel to the coast. Those ridges, in the centre 

 of the Province and towards the frontier, give place to 

 irregularly shaped dry alluvial plains stretching north 

 and south A few hills of moderate elevation are 

 scattered throughout the district. Tbe soil of the 

 alluvial plains and rice grounds is superior in fertility 

 to lauds of the same classes on Penang. That of the 

 hills is much the same in both. Extensive roads have 

 been and are now being made to facilitate intercourse, 

 and three large rivers, besides numerous enxks, afford 

 read) access to many parts of the country. The ma- 



