148 tiEOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN MALAYSIA AND ASIA, 



to considerable antiquity. In the valley of the Kiuta the country 

 is singularly diversified by outcrops of crystalline limestone, which 

 are outliers of an ancient formation, traces of which are iound to 

 extend through the whole of the Archipelago, and through 

 Borneo and Palawan into the Philippine group. In the valley 

 of the Perak there are also limestone outliers, but not so numerous. 

 One notable precipitous hill, named Pondok, occurs in the pass 

 between the sea coast and Kuala Kangsa. It is a gigantic rock 

 of quite precipitous character, about 1,500 feet high. From 

 Pappan I crossed a mountain track to Lahat, where the 

 engineer and manager of a French mining company resided. He 

 had cleared a small hill of jungle, from which a magnitiemit view 

 could bo obtained of the surrounding country. Ranges of moun- 

 tains 5,000 to 9,000 feet high could be seen to the eastward, 

 fronted by limestone hills 1,500 feet or so in height. From 

 Lahat 1 crossed to the river Ray a on elephants, partly through 

 swamps, partly along the bed of a river, and partly through 

 jungle. From this river a good open road enabled me to reach 

 the village of Tecca, and then the extensive mining town of 

 Goping. From this I returned to Kota Baru, and then in the 

 steam-gig went down the Kinta to the Kampar River, along 

 which I poled as far as the river Diepang, at the foot of the 

 mountains. Here in precipitous limestone cliffs there were tin 

 mines, worked in alluvial earth and limestone caves. This 

 alluvium was some hundreds of feet above the present level of the 

 valley, showing that there had been extensive denudation. This 

 was my farthest point in the interior of the peninsula on the west 

 side of the range, and from thence I proceeded down the river 

 Perak to the Dindings. In all I travelled between 180 and 190 

 miles on the river Perak, the farthest north being at Enggor, an 

 alluvial tin mine worked by Chinese, about eight miles up the 

 river, and a little way back from the banks. 



Besides these journeys through the tin mining district in the state 

 of Perak, I remained on the mountains in different parts of the 

 state, botanizing, collecting and making a series of observations 

 connected with meteorology, heights of clouds, &c. The first of 



