Private Forest. 
Topographical Feature 
\ 
Geology. 
* 
16 
this there is at present no revenue from forests properly so 
called, or expenditure on them. 
70. It would be very difficult to estimate correctly the 
extent of private forest in Malacca, but from what I have seen 
I consider 8,000 acres would about cover what exists. Little 
of this contains timber of any value, the general custom being 
to work out as early as possible such timber as is worth remov- 
ing, and next to cut down a certain proportion annually for the 
extension of cultivation. In this operation the trees are gene- 
rally cut over about four feet from the ground and then set tire 
to and burnt off. 
PENANG-. 
?. 71. The island of Penang is situated on the West coast of 
the Malayan Peninsula in 5* North latitude and 100° 2P east 
longitude. Its greatest length is about 15 miles and breadth 
about 9 miles, area 107 square miles. Penang has not been, so 
far as I am informed, regularly divided into districts. Penang 
is the most hilly of all the Settlements, the ranges ramify from 
near the centre of the Island in all directions. West hill is 
situated in the interior of the island and has an elevation of 
2,713 feet above sea-level ; Government Hill, better known as 
Flagstaff bill, situated immediately behind George Town has 
an elevation of 2,550 feet ; Mount Olivia which is a spur of the 
latter, lies three miles to the East of George Town, and has an 
elevation of 819 feet ; Mount T ira situated in the interior of 
tho Island rises to 2,384 feet ; Highlands” lying between 
Government Hill and George x a is 819 feet high; these 
mountain ranges are traversed by .arrow passes, bold valleys 
stretch from the coast into the interior and terminate in the 
general axis of the hill system. On the West and North patches 
of flat land occur, interrupted only by occasional small bills or 
abrupt spurs of the smaller hill chains. The most extensive 
explain is that in which George Town is situated, and which with 
the others. are believed to be recent formations and not to have 
belonged to the island originally. The elevation of these plains 
is only slightly above sea level. 
72. The mountainous nature of the surface does not admit 
of a proper series of good roads throughout the island, and 
those which exist are connected in some places by bridle paths. 
The chief roads are those which traverse the plain behind 
George Town and are kept in excellent order. 
73. None of the water courses of the island are sufficiently 
large to earn the name of rivers, though they are generally so 
called, the most important is that which traverses the plain 
near George Town and from which the town supply of water 
is procured ; but the volume of water of this river has been of 
late much reduced, and is in no small degree polluted by 
extensive removals of the natural covering of its watershed 
and by cultivation. 
74. The island is generally and rightly looked upon as a 
mass of granite rock, with granite soil as a necessary conse- 
quence, and which with a slight coating of vegetable humus, 
formed of decayed branches and leaves, clothes all the high- 
lands and upper portions of the valleys, the alluvial soils being 
confined entirely to the plains and bottoms of the valleys. In 
some places where landslips have exhibited sections of the hill 
sides, soils of various colours are seen to occur ; where quartz 
predominated in the original rock a sandy gritty soil is the 
result ; where felspar prevailed a whitish clay is produced, and 
where mica was in excess a reddish or brownish soil is to be 
