Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrait121878roya).pdf/99

 "We had just come out of a narrow valley, filled with dense jungle and not very high bills on each side. Coming out of this, the valley now level and comparatively clear, widened out abruptly, so that it became an extensive plain. Close in front of us, rather on the left, rose as it were straight out of a plain as level as the sea, a large rock, some 800 feet high, partly covered with trees, partly bare rock in sheer precipices."

"The rock itself is formed of limestone, and it is that curious looking hill, commonly called Bukit Gantang which, when seen from the sea, forms the chief land mark for entering the Larut river. The only hill I have seen at all like it is "Elephant Mount" in Kedah, and we could see that Gunong Pondok resembles the mount, in the fact of its being full of caves. On our right was Bukit Berapit and this stretches away to the right, in a range of gradually lessening hills. Right in front of us, a beautiful valley, some twenty miles long, almost all cultivated or partly so, shut in the distance by the hills in the interior of Perak."

February 14th at 11.45 a.m. we arrived within 150 yards of our destination, only to find we were on the wrong side of a wide and deep river. It is no use attempting to argue a point like this, so we undressed and swam across. The others came up and had to go through the same performance. The river we came across was the Kangsa, which here runs into the Perak river, a stream about 200 yards broad; and we are looking forward with considerable pleasure to a three days' journey down it."

II. (Extract from Mr. Daly's Journal during the crossing from Ulu Muar and Jampol to Pahang, 1875.

"I cannot get even our man to accompany us, although we have offered very high wages,—so we are starting by ourselves. This is a drawback to me, as I always like to get some man who can give me the native names of rivers, hills, and kampongs, wherever I go."

"They say, as one of the objections to our going to Pahang, that we cannot find our way through the lake (Tassek Berâ) which we have to cross to strike again the stream that runs into the Pahang river. I apprehend more difficulty in getting the boat over the shoals and snags of the "Ilir Serêting."

"The Malays of this place won't go with us, as they say that they are sure to be killed by the "orang utan" (wild men) of the jungle of Pahang."