88 SKETCH OF THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
forest, present the most magnificent scenery. As we proceed south 
the coast changes, the islands disappear, and on the mainland a broad 
wooded plain extends from the beach to a considerable distance in¬ 
land, where mountains are seen stretching away to the southward. 
The island of Pinang is a bold mountain mass, rising in some of its 
northerly summits, to a height of nearly 3,000 feet, and contrast¬ 
ing nobly with the broad and beautiful plain which lies opposite to it 
on the mainland. 
In coasting along the Peninsula from Pinang to Cape Rachado, a 
high chain, or rather series of ranges, of mountains is observed inland 
nearly the whole way. In front of these ranges we see a broad dense¬ 
ly wooded tract of country spread out, often appearing to be per¬ 
fectly flat and very little above the sea level for many miles together, 
but from which sometimes low hills rise like islands out of the sea. 
These hills are frequently quite solitary and at a great distance from 
the central mountains, or near the coast. Further Inland they seem 
to be generally in groups, and towards the mountains the country, at 
many places, appears hilly and undulating. 
To the south of Cape Rachado the broad plains and high mountain 
ranges are not recognized. The hill ranges approacli to the coast, 
and generally form it. Where they are interrupted, small alluvi¬ 
al plains are formed, from which narrow vallies penetrate between the 
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ranges. The alluvial formation begins to predominate again on the 
seabord in the plain of Malacca, which, encircled and intersected by 
bills that seem to retire in dark undulations to the feet of the Rum- 
bou mountains and the majestic Opliir, and with numerous and va¬ 
rious elements of natural beauty and human interest, is the most at¬ 
tractive spot in the Peninsula, presenting a wonderful contrast to the 
great wildernesses of jungle w hich spread almost continously both to 
the north and south of the British Settlement. From Malacca to the 
extremity of the Peninsula, a few distant and isolated mountain ranges 
are seen rising over broad alluvial plains, which, at some places, sweep 
far inland, and near the coast are rarely interrupted in their dead le¬ 
vel by hills. 
The southern portion of the eastern coast is low and rocky, with long 
