xlii 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
the main range in Central Kedah, for in crossing from Senggora we neither 
ascended higher than a few hundred feet above sea level, nor did we see a 
single high mountain in the vicinity of the track. This fact is interesting, 
because it has frequently been taken for granted that the mountain fauna of 
Perak, which is not found much below 3,000 feet, has a continuous distribu- 
tion with that of the mountains of Northern India, to which it is so nearly 
related ; whereas it is evident, in the light of this observation, that no such 
exact relationship can exist at the present day, unless, as seems improbable, 
the mountain forms are in the habit of migrating across intermediate tracts of 
level ground. In short, it seems that the Malay Peninsula, as our whole 
collection has served to confirm, is connected with India, as regards zoo- 
geography, in a degree not much more intimate than that which links it 
to Borneo, though many mainland forms peculiar to the plains have made 
their way south across the Isthmus of Kra. The discovery of an elephant, 
known from the Upper Siwalik beds, also in Nawngchik, 1 affords definite 
evidence that the Isthmus existed as long ago as late Pliocene or early 
Pleistocene times, and it is more probable that land has sunk beneath the sea 
in this region than that it has risen since the modern fauna came into existence. 2 
The part of Kedah through which we passed was almost covered entirely 
with secondary jungle of no great age ; ancient forest did not exist, and villages 
were few and far between. We noted what appeared to be an abrupt change 
in the population as we passed into the state, the coarse, rather flat-faced type, 
common on the East Coast, giving place largely to one with far more refined 
and delicate features, resembling those of the people of South Perak. The 
track across the Peninsula at this latitude has largely fallen into disrepair, but 
is still good at many points. 
Alor Stab. The modern capital of Kedah is situated some miles up the Kedah 
River from the West Coast of the Peninsula. Though it has not more than 
half-a-dozen European residents, it closely resembles Penang or Singapore in 
outward appearance, having handsome public buildings and private residences, 
a large Chinese and a large Indian quarter. We saw, however, during a walk 
through the town, at least one shop devoted entirely to the manufacture and 
sale of the kris, a weapon which is rapidly becoming obsolete in most parts of 
the Peninsula and is, of course, typically Malay. A daily steamboat service 
exists between Alor Stah and Penang, and there is a large export trade in 
cattle, poultry and fish, among the last being rice-field Silurids, which can be 
carried alive for long distances in wooden tubs with very little water and a 
cover to prevent their escape. 
1. C. W. Andrews, Fascic. Malay. — Zoology , Part II, p. 305. 
2. Fossils of marine origin were found in Central Patalung by Mr. W. W. Skeat and myself in 1899, which 
Professor McKenny Hughes (Report Brit. Assoc., 1901, p. 41+) regards as being of late Carboniferous or Permo- 
Carboniferous age. N.A. 
