64 
A JOURNEY IN JOIIORE. 
but I have been convinced of the contrary by my own senses. 
I am told rhinoceroses are to be met with in the thickest and 
lowest part of the forest, but I have never seen any of them, 
1 have seen but few snakes, though the Jakuns assure me 
that they are very numerous ; and not uncommonly they 
meet with a kind they call ular sawah, which appears to be 
the boa, of which some are of the size of the body of a man, 
and swallow a buffalo.* 
The vegetation of the interior of the Peninsula, is one of 
the most luxuriant that can be seen : trees grow to the 
greatest size that can be reached. 
Amongst the fruit trees, the durian is one of the most 
remarkable, it grows in the thickest part of the forest without 
any culture: the wild mangosteeu and rambootan are 
likewise found in many places, and their fruit is but little 
inferior to those cultivated in gardens. 
The interior of the part of the Peninsula I now speak of 
is certainly very productive. All low places appear to be fit 
for cultivating rice : and I have no doubt that sugar cane 
would succeed in many places, principally where is found 
the kind of palm tree called nibong by the Malays. I have 
seen in several instances sugar care of an extraordinary lux- 
uriancy, though after having been planted by Jakuns it re¬ 
ceived very little care. 
It is probable that the country is rich in gold and tin : 
at least the fact of its existence in several places induces 
me to believe that it must be found in others. r l here are 
tin mines on the banks of the Johore river. Several new 
ones were lately discovered in the piece of ground which 
lies between the two rivers of Muar and Cassang; and every 
one is aware of the considerable quantity of gold which is 
extracted every year from the mines of mount Ophir, 
though worked without proper means, and by a few persons 
only. 
Many of the numerous rivers which open both on the 
East and West Coast, would be navigable to the center of 
the Peninsula if they were cleared from the fallen trees by 
which they are obstructed, and the exportation of the 
produce both of the cultivated ground and of the mines, 
would be thus rendered very easy. 
* The snake noticed in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, although no- 
more than three in cheain diameter at the thickest part of the body, |walIftW8«§ 
a pig of more than fifty pounds weight. 
