A JOURNEY IN JOHORE. 
63 
several others I performed in the interior of the Feninsula, I 
am induced to consider it in the following view. 
That part of the Malayan Peninsula comprised between 
a supposed right line taken from the mouth of the river 
Cassang on the West coast, passing by mount Ophir and 
terminating on the East coast about half way from the Sedilli 
river to that of Pahang, and Point Romania, may be con¬ 
sidered as almost a vast desert; only a few Malays are found 
. in several places on the sea shore, and more or less on the 
banks of the rivers; and a small number of Jakuns inhabit 
the interior. I suppose all the population of that immense 
territory is not equal to a sixth or a seventh of the popula¬ 
tion of the single island of Singapore. The principal 
Malay villages are the following:—one on the West coast 
at Padang near the mouth of the Muar river ; a considerable 
quantity of fruit was formerly exported from that place, but 
a great part of the fruit trees having been destroyed by Ele¬ 
phants a few years ago, the export is now of little considera¬ 
tion ; one on Batu Pahat, or Rio Formosa, from whence 
ebony and rattans are exported; the village of Johore on the 
river of that name ; and another I have not visited on the 
Sedilli river on the East coast. 
The principal habitations of the Jakuns are found at the 
upper extremity of the rivers of Johore, Banut, Batu Pahat 
and Muar. 
The interior of this part of the Peninsula is generally a 
low ground, at some period of the year covered with water 
in many places. A majestic and solemn forest, which 
extends itself over almost the whole of this immense space, 
bounds continually the view of the traveller, even when 
placed upon the hills which are sometimes, though seldom, 
met with The gloom caused by tne thick foliage of lofty 
trees, and the dull silence of the place, often joined with 
the humming murmur of rocky rivulets, produce the most 
melancholy imaginations, while the sight of some old trees 
fallen down calls to the mind the end of every earthly thing, 
and offers to the traveller an appropriate subject for philoso¬ 
phical meditation. The birds which, by their melodious 
language, might raise his mind to some gay and joyful reflec¬ 
tions, are there in small number. The most numerous inha¬ 
bitants of that land are the wild beasts. The panther falsely 
called black tiger by the Malays is one of the most common. 
The royal tiger appears likewise to be very numerous. 
Elephants are found in herds, but in some places only. I 
had been told that bears were not found in the Peninsula, 
