BY TUB REV. J. H. TBNISOJi-WOODS. 



151 



mauihot, for which the ground is eminently fitted. Pepper, rice, 

 and sago, besides much cultivated fruit are extensively produced. 

 The state of Malacca is now principally dependent on its agricul- 

 ture as it produces but little tin, and has no more than the name 

 of producing gold. I have traversed its roads from Sungei Baru 

 on tbe west to Sungei Kesaug on the east, and from Malacca to 

 Mount Ophir, and I found it, next to Java, the most civilized 

 besides being the most picturesque ]>artof the Indian Archipelago, 

 but the scenery is of a subdued rural description compared with 

 Perak. 



Pahang.— On the east side of the Malay Peninsula my travels 

 were more restricted, for tbe states in this portion of Malaysia are 

 poorly populated and but little known. One reason for this is that 

 the eastern side is exposed to tbe full force of the monsoon for six 

 months of the year, when it blows up the Gulf of Siam. Thus the 

 mouths of the rivers emptying on the east coast become absolutely 

 closed to navigation. Yet a special interest attaches to this por- 

 tion of the continent, because some of the states have had a great 

 reputation from time immemorial for the production of gold. The 

 Spanish author Manuel Godinho de Eredia, writing in the com- 

 mencement of the seventeenth century, speaks of gold dust found at 

 Jelli in the kingdom of Pain. This is the river Jcllis in the king- 

 dom of Paliang, the state next to the north of Johore, on the east 

 side of the peninsula and about 250 miles from Singapore. 



Although so near to Singapore, it is surprising how little was 

 known of the kingdom of Paliang. Probably not more than a dozen 

 Europeans have visited it at various times. Of late years more keen 

 attention has been paid to its rumours of mineral riches. About 

 live years ago a government surveyor from Selangore undertook 

 on his own responsibility and at his own expense the survey of 

 the river Pahang ; and this he accomplished in a singularly 

 accurate manner, considering thu moans at his disposal, hi 1.>S4, 

 the river was explored by Mr. Scaife, and early in 1885 Mr. 

 Swettenham the Government Resident at Selangore crossed the 

 range between Kuala Lumpor and the JellU, while the year before 



