5G 



S/{e/ch of ihe Mahnjan Peninsitla. 



[Jan. 



the tin mines, of gvaiiite uitli veins of white qnartz. The general 

 formation, granite with hornstone overlying. The coast rocky and 

 precipitous. Pulo Takuvg is composed of chiy iron or sandstone, and 

 clay slate unJcr the sandstone, soft and unfit for roofing — only found 

 here and at Pif/o -Sa/i^r. The rabbit and coney rocks are two masses 

 of sandstone. Pulo Tinghi on the east coast has a remarkably vol- 

 canic appearance. 



From information hitherto collected, and from diligent enquiry made 

 among the natives of the peninsula, I cannot discover that any vol- 

 canos exist in the interior; though the circumstance of numerous 

 thermal springs, scattered over the face of the country, sufficiently 

 testify the activity of subterraneous fires at no great distance below 

 the surface. Severe shocks of earthquakes have been felt from time 

 to time ; but whether caused by violent eruptions from any of the vol- 

 canos on the opposite coast of Sumatra, or by under ground explosions 

 there, or in the peninsula itself, which is near the line of one of the 

 great volcanic belts, is uncertain. It has been already observed that 

 large masses of scoricB many feet thick exist at Delhi Point. Natives 

 have traditions of the sudden sinking of mountains in the interior, 

 and their sites being occupied by lakes. 



There are thermal springs in the vicinity of Malacca : at Ayer 

 pannas, near Sabang, and at Sundi in the A'aning district. I have 

 visited the two first places, and found the temperature of the w^ater, at 

 noon, of the springs at Jyer pannas io be 120o Fahrenheit, and at 6 

 A. M. llSio . The temperature of the hot springs at Sabang was found 

 at 6 A. M. to be llOo. The variation in the former instance is account- 

 ed for by the dilierent temperatures of the atmosphere at the time of 

 ascertaining the heat. The temperature of the springs in both cases, 

 I found in several comparative trials to exceed that of the atmosphere 

 by an average ofSS^ Fahrenheit. At the wells near ASaSa^jg, when 

 the bulb of the thermometer was pushed into the soft vegetable mould 

 at the bottom of the spring, the thermometer rose to 130o. The 

 springs at both places are situated in swampy fiats, the nearest hills 

 are of laterite and granite. They average from 1 to 2§ feet in depth, 

 and are discoverable from a distance by the steam, and odour that 

 escapes. The water is of a pale bluish green tinge ; from the bottom 

 bubbles of air (probably sulphuretted hydrogen gas), ever and anon find 

 their way to the surface, w^iere they burst. Br. Ward analysed a por- 

 tion of the water from the springs at Ayer juainas, and found that, on 

 slov,' evaporation in a sand-bath, 1000 grains of the water left a resi- 



