128 
SKETCH OF THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
The only two large rivers which the Peninsula possesses along 
the coast from Point Lumat to T. Buru, are the Muar and the Batu 
Pahdt. The former is apparently about 600 yards broad at its mouth, 
and 100 yards, 18 miles up the river. There are no rivers of consider¬ 
able size for about 90 miles south of Lumat, and this arises from two 
thirds of the breadth of the Peninsula lying here to the east of the 
watershed. But although the Muar does not fall into the sea until 
2° N. L., it probably acquires its size from running within the outer 
ranges of the mountains, in a direction nearly parallel to this part of 
the coast, and for nearly the same length. At the bar the depth varies 
from f ths. of a fathom to 4 fathoms. The general direction is at first 
N. E. through an alluvial flat. Its course has not been described be¬ 
yond Gressik, which Captain Newbold visited. From information 
obtained on both sides of the Peninsula from Malays and Binua, we 
believe that it rises in Gunong Bermun,* and then runs in a south 
easterly direction through a mountainous country. When it has pass¬ 
ed the latitude of Mount Ophir, it receives the considerable tributa¬ 
ry of the Sigamet, and, bending towards the S. W., pursues that di¬ 
rection to the sea. 
The Batu Pabat (Rio Formosa) falls into the sea 19 miles to the 
south of the M uar. Although inferior in size to the Muar, it is a re¬ 
markably fine river. It Is deep, and proceeds E. N. E., gradually 
contracting in breadth from 100 yards to 50 feet, for about 20 miles 
by a winding course, through a plain so low that it is overflowed by high 
tides. It then bifurcates, one branch proceeding towards theN. W. 
and the other towards the W. The first branch rises near the Muar, 
and in the same hill where one ot the feeders of the latter, the Pago, 
has its source. The second branch rises in a marsh, from the oppo¬ 
site side of which a river bearing the same name (Simrongf) flows 
eastward and joins the Indau, which has its embouchure on the eas¬ 
tern coast. Near its mouth, the Batu Pahat receives a large tribu¬ 
tary from the north, which drains the district between it and the 
Muar. The southern side of its estuary is formed by a range of low 
* Sec ante vob i. p. 247. 
4 See ante voi. i. p. 245. 
