134 
SKETCH OF THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
to each other and to the present beach, shew how the alterations in 
the form of the coast have, from time to time, altered the directions 
of the waves and currents. One of the oldest, that which runs pa¬ 
rallel to the Sirangun road across the wide mouths of the Bukit Ti- 
mah and Balestier vallies, on the west side of the plain, appears to 
have been coeval with the scarping of the flanks of the Siglap range, 
on the east side of the plain, which are now separated from the sea 
by a sandy plain, but which have evidently been the “ Red Cliffs ” 
of ancient times. The present sandy beach extending from Siglap 
to Tanjong Ru (Sandy Point,) where it projects in a long tongue 
into the harbour, has shut in the mud flat of the Gelang, given a 
common estuary to that stream, the Kallang and the Rochor, and 
is rapidly forcing them to unite. The high beaches of sand have 
had different effects according to the level of the flats which they have 
banked in. Mud flats covered with mangroves and overflowed by 
the tides have been converted from salt water, into brackish, mar¬ 
shes. Lower flats, where completely blocked in by the sand beaches, 
have been eventually changed into fresh water swamps, in which ve¬ 
getable matter has accumulated to a considerable thickness. The 
raising of the bottom of the bay above the level of the sea has been 
attended by a rise in the level of the lower part of the vallies. 
With the exception of the SidiH and the Indau (of which a short 
account will be found ante Vol. I. p. 243) none of the rivers of the 
eastern coast have been explored. The southern principal branch 
of the Indau, the Simrong, communicates with the branch of the 
Batu Pahat of the same name. The Peninsula between the basins 
of the Indau and the Batu Pah&t consists of low hills. The north¬ 
ern branch of the Indau rises in Gunong Sigamet, which gives its 
name to the largest feeder of the Muar. 
The Palling is a large and important river. Its principal upper 
branch, the Sirting, is said to rise in Gunong Bennun, where the 
Muar, Sungi Ujong and Kallang have their sources. The upper 
part of its course lies in a mountainous and hilly country, in which 
the only lake in the Peninsula of considerable size is situated. After 
a long course the Pahang falls into the sea in lat. 3° 34’. Its mouth 
