Page:Notes of a journey across the Isthmus of Krà.pdf/14

 according to careful aneroid observations. The source of the Langsuen river tapered gradually off to within a short distance from the pass; here we remained three quarters of an hour to refresh both man and beast. At 12.33 we commenced the abrupt and serpentine descent on its western side, and at 1.55 the Expedition emerged into open country.

The source of Raat Koot river was met with shortly after leaving the pass, and we followed the course of that small stream, wending its way along the plain, past the tin mine localities, until we arrived at the insignificant village bearing its name by 2.39 p.m.

Ban Raat Koot is within a couple of miles of the sea coast, and here we found a steam launch, sent by Kaw Sim Kong, the loyal and energetic Governor of Rehnong, to convey the party to that place, instead of following the tedious and dangerous mountain track connecting the two places. In the course of the evening stellar observations were made for latitude; and the following morning. February 5th, solar observations were taken sketches of mountains and bearing recorded, and aneroid readings noted with considerable care. After this we boarded the steam launch in a fork of the river (Ooay Sie Kow) a few minutes pull from the village, and in a few minutes more we were steaming up the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal with a smooth sea and enjoyable land breeze.

The weather was cold and pleasant, and revived the spirits of the whole party after our temporary sojourn in the jungle, "and all went merry as a marriage bell," when lo! the eastern landscape presented a grand view to our gaze. There appeared the lofty, interminable, backbone chain of the Malay peninsula standing boldly out in the clear morning sky, with a bluish tint and irregular outline, presenting a gigantic barrier against the puny efforts of human skill and science.

The distance from the mouth of the Raat Koot river to Koh Pee, a small rocky islet off the mouth of the Rehnong river, is fifteen and a half miles. The coast is very shoal between these points. Our little steamer pursued its course close to the eastern shores of a chain of islands lying a short distance off the