618 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE EASTERN COAST 
of the group, a patch of open sea again, the range of Palo Sakijang 
covered with pineapples and fruit trees, then a broader strait broken 
by several islets the farthest of which is about twelve miles distant, 
while those on its southern side become almost continuous, the dis* 
tant blue peaks of Sugi, Glam Tua and Gunong Bulan appearing to 
rise from amongst the low hills of the nearer islets, complete the 
western borders of the sea and bring the eye to Battam island, whose 
long dark undulating band of jungle, here advancing in bold pro¬ 
montories of indurated sandstone and granite* and there retiring 
in deep bays, stretches from west to east, constituting the entire 
southern boundary of this portion of the Strait, and blending at 
its extremity with the more dim outline of the coast of B^ntan, 
Its western half is more abruptly undulating than the eastern, 
attaining a considerable elevation in Bukit Sabimba, which gives its 
name to the rude tribe that haunts the adjacent forests.* The sea 
across which we follow the shores of Battam, and which stretches 
f * Why is this deeply indented coast so different from that of Singapore 
on the northern side of the Strait, which from Tanjong Ru eastward 
presents a curve of very slight undulations? Why is the depression 
that constitutes the Wide basin on which the harbour of Singapore 
lies, Oiled up with debris in its northern extremity, constituting the 
plain of Singapore, and left open in the southern, Battam Bay ? 
The promontory of Treng, which separates Battam from Bulan Bay, 
is mostly sandstone like the Red Cliff ranges on the Singapore side, 
but the granite on its eastern side has hardened it, and served to 
protect it from abrasion. The sandstone on the Singapore coast, on 
the contrary, does not come in contact with the granite till consider¬ 
ably beyond the Large Red cliffs towards the Changy promontory, and 
it has consequently acquired little cohesion. Indeed so little has it been 
directly affected by the plutonic action that went on in its vicinity, that 
its strata remain nearly horizontal. This soft sandstone has readily 
yielded to the waves and currents, which have undermined its seaward 
hills, ground the falling masses into sand and sediment, and in this 
state carried them to the westward, where it has deposited them in 
the shape of long sand banks in the ancient bay of Singapore. These 
bands of sand, marking the set of the currents, and the direction of 
the coast of this bay at different epochs, may be traced on the plain 
of Singapore. The same process still goes on, the Red Cliffs con¬ 
tinue to give way, and the newest bands of sand may be followed 
along the coast to Tanjong Ru, which is causing the north eastern part 
of the harbour to be filled up. The mass of sand alone that has been 
laid down by the sea to the westward of the Red Cliff hills is so great, 
that we must believe the strait between them and the opposite pro¬ 
montory of Treng was considerably narrower, when the waves of the 
basin to the west rolled in over the greater part of the space now 
forming the districts of Siglap, Paya LebAr, Kallang, Gelang, and Rochor 
(See Sketch of the Physical Geography and Geology of the Malay Pe¬ 
ninsula , ante p. 133, 134.) 
t See “ The Orang Sabimba,” ante, vol, i. p. 295. 
