ples had not suffered
from the change of climate and, very likely, been exposed to dampness.]

CHAPTER XVI.

Past and future geography--Mountains and plateaus--An attempt at a
census--Temperature--Maladies and remedies--ALA a quack.

Thirty years ago, even in our best geographies, very little mention was
made of the Malay Peninsula.

Something was said about its coasts and a scanty product of tin,
antimony and coal but there was not a single word about the wide stretch
of land far from the shores, partly unexplored and partly inhabited by
savages, beyond stating that a chain of mountains ran the whole length,
beginning at Kedak and Kelantan and terminating at the extreme end of
the peninsula, so dividing it almost in the middle.

But a geographer in our days would have to write a great deal more, for
the interior of this country is no longer a deep inviolated mystery, and
its aspect has proved very different from what studies, made at a
prudent distance, had led us to imagine.

The high mountains (the Berumbun reaches 6530 feet in height) present to
the gaze scenery which would satisfy an artist. Some of the tops are
covered with a rich, wild vegetation, some are rugged or have sharp
peaks from which torrents of sparkling white foam dash down the narrow
dark crevices with roaring fury.

From those superb masses extend a series of plateaus like so many
terraces which the more they descend the more they unfold the
fruitfulness of the soil, irrigated by smooth rivers and rills.

There, where mountainous fertility ceases, one to the east and the other
to the west, lie the plains of Pahang and Perak whose industrious hands
guided by civilized ideas are carrying on a work of redemption from
abandonment and malaria by the extension of cultivation and sanitary
principles.

* * * * *

The forest--the territory of the Sakais--covers the central part of the
Peninsula. On the outskirts live those less savage because of their
contact and dealings with the Malays, Siamese, Chinese and Indians, by
whom they are surrounded. The others press always closer on towards the
mountains at the same rate that civilization approaches them, fixing
their abode at an elevation of not more than from 1500 to 2000 feet. I
have found some, but a very rare case, at a height of 4000 feet.

It is true that up there, there are not so many dangers to be met with,
for wild beasts (with the exception of