1833.] 



Sketch of ihe Malayan Peninsula. 



tvveen Malacca and Pahang. Rivulets and springs are every ^vhere 

 abundant. A few large rivers, having their sources in the mountainous 

 chain above-men tioned, empty themselves into the seas on either side. 

 Their banks are generally low, svi'ampy, and covered with mangrove, 

 Nipah, Nihong and other trees. Their bottom is for the most part mud- 

 dy, except at short distances from the estuaries, where sand banks and 

 coral reefs are often met with. Their moutlis are frequently obstructed 

 by bars augmenting or decreasing according to the operation of tides, 

 freshes and oceanic currents. The principal ri'^-'ers on the west coast 

 are those of Quedah, Perak, Single, Mum\ and Batta Pnhat, or Rio For- 

 moso, that of Johore at the southern extremity, and those of Pahang, 

 Basiit, Tr in g aim, 'diid P«./«?n' on the eastern shore. A number of ver- 

 dant islets stud the coasts, among v;hich are the Sancavi, the P'uiang 

 the Dinding, the Samhilan, the Aroe, the AguoAa, the Singapore, and 

 Tinghie clusters. The southern part of the Malay Peninsula and 

 Banca assimilate in geological formation. Dr. Horsfield, in his obser- 

 vations on the mineralogical constitution of Banca, observes that ^' the 

 direction of the island being from north-west to the south-east, it foliowfs 

 not only the direction of Sumatra and the i\lalayan Peninsula, but the 

 large chain of Asiatic mountains, one of the many branches of vrhich 

 terminates in Ceylon ; while another traversing Arracan, Pegu, the Ma- 

 layan Peninsula, and probably Sumatra, sends off an inferior range 

 through Banca and Billiton, where it maybe considered to disappear." 



This chain of mountains ma,y be viewed as the termination of one of 

 those beams or pillars of lofty hills, spoken of by M. de Guignes, in 

 his work on the Huns, as supporting the stupendous edifice, to which 

 he compares the elevated regions of Tartary. comprehending the lofty 

 ranges of Imaiis and Caucasus ; and the dome of which is represented 

 as one prodigious mountain, to which the Chinese give the epilhet of 

 celestial, down the steeps of which numerous broad and rapid rivers 

 pour their waters. The Malayan chain, as far as has been hitherto 

 explored, is of primitive formation, principally a grey stanniferous 

 granite and clay slate. As it approaches the equator, it diminishes in 

 height : the highest of the Rumhowe and Johore ranges not exceeding 

 probably 3,000 feet above the level of the sea ; while many of those in 

 the north of Quedah are said to be upwards of 6000. IMount Ophir, a 

 detached mountain, between 30 and 40 miles to the eastward of i\Ia- 

 lacca, I calculated roughly (by means of the thermometer and boiling 

 water) to be 5,693 feet above the level of the sea : it^ summit is of 

 grey granite. Gold dust and crystals of quartz are found in cor.sider- 



