FASCICULI MALATENSES 
xi 
PART II. SENGGORA, PATALUNG, AND TRANG 
Senggora 
T HE state of Senggora, called Sun-kra or Sun-kla by the Siamese, has, if 
the districts of Tibaw and Chenaw be included, an area rather greater 
than that of Rhaman (q.v.). Of Tibaw and Chenaw very little is known, 
our own experience consisting merely of two days’ hasty march along the 
coast ; they seem to be sparsely populated in the interior, and to consist chiefly 
of jungle country. Senggora proper, on the other hand, has mostly been 
cleared, where the ground is not too barren to render clearing a work of 
supererogation, and it is doubtful whether any old jungle now remains within 
the district. The coast land of all three districts resembles that of the Patani 
States, but it is obvious that the sea is here rapidly eating into the land, as we 
saw many Casuarina trees that had been undermined by the waves and had 
fallen on the beach. A remarkable feature of the vegetation along this coast, 
especially in the immediate vicinity of Senggora town, is the abundance of 
certain myrmecophilous plants ; in some places there is hardly a tree other than 
a Casuarina — for the Casuarina harbours few epiphytes or creepers — but gives 
support to one or more plants of a Discidia , which we found also growing on the 
same stump as a species of Myrmecodia, or an allied genus. We noticed, however, 
that the modified leaves of the Discidia were very liable to have holes eaten in 
them by some insect or mollusc, and that the ones so injured, which permitted 
water to enter their cavities, were not frequented by ants ; the species 
inhabiting the bulbous stem of the Myrmecodia was not the same as that which 
lived in the leaves of the Discidia that grew a few inches away. On our 
walk along the shore from the mouth of the Tibaw River to Senggora town, 
we saw several sea snakes ( Hydrophinae ) which had been buffeted in the tremendous 
surf, which broke all along the coast, and cast ashore ; they were evidently in 
a very vicious condition, attempting to bite any object thrust in their way. 
We were obliged to travel very light, and accomplished the journey from 
Kampong Anak Bukit, in Nawngchik, to Senggora in three days, although the 
foot track between the former village and the Tibaw River was almost entirely 
submerged, owing to the heavy rains which had fallen — it was December— and 
although the sand of the seashore, to which we took in order to avoid the 
floods, provided very heavy going. It is doubtful whether we could have 
moved with anything like the same rapidity, had we not gone barefoot, clad in 
the lightest of Chinese clothing, which the wind dried almost as soon as the 
rain had soaked it. 
