TILE MALAY PENINSULA. 



the granite at every elevation. The whole country has been described 

 as iL a vftHt magazine " uf (his metal, and is now admitted to bo the 

 wont extensive tiu-prc-ducing region in the world. Hut mining 

 operations have hitherto been confined to the deposits near tlie foot 

 of tlio hills, in tho alluvial ground formed by the decomposition of 

 the encasing rocks. Mines nro worked at present in about twenty 

 different localities on both sides, and througboilt tlie length of the 

 Peninsula. The mast productive are those of the Siamese provinces in 

 the north-west, ltitan, Svl&wu, L&rut, Kin la, KwAlttf Lutupor, Sungei, 

 Ujorig, Pahang, Kehmtan T and Putuni, 



Gold occurs iu several of thesa district*, but especially in Chendras» 

 Tiiong (near M taint 0|diirh Kelantan, and Jetei in the interior of l'ah:iiig* 

 the produce of the hwt-nicii tinned p'.ru-i- r^inciLLiMling n higher price by 

 :; i i i!. M I •■! '. m gold, Itich galena tap ocean in PstSJiL 



Silver al*o, the presence of which hud been doubted, although the. iVrnk 

 river is namnd from tlio Malay word iierak, 14 silver*" has recently hwn 

 f-mil'l ill |,iinit a-Hif-M-ian-d with I Iu- tin ihrtisurih.it district, Kiel; galena 

 ore oft 'lira iu Patau i, while iron is mora abundant even thai] tin, especially 

 in tlie sunt hern P W V i ltOOfc Coal hi stated to have he<.'ii n ll-jiIIv fuumJ 

 to the south of hra. iu l'erak* mid a few other nlnecs, But neither coal 

 nor iruu has hitherto Wn worked, in any part of tho lVuituiuUu 



River Systems.— Owing to the formation of the loud and the 

 some what central disposition of the main water-parting, tlie rivers 

 although numerous are necessarily of short length, and as their mouths 

 are generally obstructed by bars and coral reefs, they are on the 

 whole more useful for irrigation than us highways of communication. 

 Nevertheless some are navigable by light craft for considerable 

 distance^ and small steamers have ascendud the Beniam between 

 Pcrak and Selaugor for a distance of about 80 miles from the coast. 

 But by far the largest river basins are the Pernk on the west ami tlie 

 Pa hang on the east elope, each of which comprises an area of drain- 

 ago over 5*100 square miles in extent* The Perak with its chief 

 tributaries, the Phis, Kinta, and Putmig Padang, presents a total 

 navigable waterway of perhaps 2000 miles. 



Tho other chief streams, following the coast from north to south, 

 are the Pakehan on the northern frontier; the H&da, Sowing between 

 Keclah and the province of Wellestey J the Km an and La nit in Perak ; 

 the Seldngror, Khing, Langat t Linggi, uiid Moar, all on the weatcoist ; 

 tho Johnr, whoso estuary faecs Singapore; tho Patsni, the Kolanlan, 

 with ibi I urge Irihntary the Lcbili, the Kcnianitm, Cherating, lhunpen, 

 and Eudati, all on the east coast, 



Most of these riven hn-rev their coarse, not east and wrat, but more or 

 less synclinal with tho mountain-ranges from north-east to south-west on 



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