By far tlie best account of the Peninsula has been given by Mr. Logan in his
Journal, and I take him as my principal guide in attempting to give a sketch of it.
In the widest sense, the Peninsula extends from the parallel of the head of the gulf of
Siam, in latitude 13° 30', to Cape Bomania, the Tanjung-bulus, or “ naked headland”
of the Malays, in latitude 1° 41', or only 74 miles from the equator. Its extreme
length is about 800 miles; its least breadth about 60, and its greatest about 150.
Generally, it is about ten times as long as it is broad. The area of the entire Peninsula
is reckoned to be 83,000 square miles, which makes it about equal in extent to Britain.
But the country inhabited by the Malays, which does not include the northern portion
of it, has an area of no more than 61,560 miles, and is, therefore, about half as large
again as Java, single provinces of which, such is the difference between the natural
capabilities of the two countries, contain more fertile land, more cultivation, and
more inhabitants than the whole of it. The northern part of the Peninsula, forming
a narrow isthmus, l’unning nearly due north and south, to the length of 140 miles,
contains an area of 21,600 square miles, and is inhabited by the Siamese, or a cross
between them and the Malays, known to the latter by the name of Sansam. Except
at its base, where it forms a portion of the Siamese territory, the Peninsula is every
where surrounded by the sea,—to the east by the Sea of China and Gulf of Siam,
and to the west by the Bay of Bengal and the Straits of Malacca, the latter washing
that portion of it inhabited by the Malays.
Along the shores of the Peninsula lie many islands, not included in the area above
given. On the western side, and fronting the portion inhabited by the Malays, we
have, besides many smaller ones, Trutao, Langkawi, Penang, Singapore, Batam and
Bintang. On the eastern coast the islands are fewer and smaller. All these littoral
islands are of the same character as the main land, and when inhabited at all, are so
by the same race of men, the Malayan. Their superficies may probably be not less
than 5000 square miles, to be added to the continental portion of the “ land of the
Malays.” H 1
The geological formation of the Peninsula is granitic, overlaid most generally by
sandstone, and frequently also, by laterite or cellular clay iron-stone, and to the north
by lime-stone. A granitic mountain chain runs along the whole length of the
Peninsula, and on both sides of it, but particularly on its western one, or that sheltered
by Sumatra, there are extensive alluvial plains, little above the level of the sea.
The highest mountains are Pulai, in the territory of Jehor, 2152 feet above the level
of the sea; Jerai, in the territory of Queda, 3894 feet, and Ledang, the continental
Ophir of the Portuguese, 4320. Thus it will be seen that the mountains of the
Peninsula are not above one third part of the height of those of Sumatra, Java, Bali,
or Lomboc. Thermal springs exist within the territory of Malacca, but no trace of
a volcanic formation has any where been discovered.
The prevailing metals are iron, tin, and gold. “ Iron ores,” says Mr. Logan, a
skilful geologist, “ are everywhere found, and in the south they exist in vast profusion.
In some places the strata have been completely saturated with iron, and here the
naked surface of the ground, strewed with blackish scoriform gravel and blocks,
presents a strange contrast to the exuberant vegetation of the surrounding tracts,
appearing as if the ground had been burnt and blasted by subterraneous fires. Much of
the ordinary forms of iron-masked rocks are so common, and so little regarded for their
metallic contents, that in Singapore they are used to macadamise the roads, although
containing nearly 60 per cent, of pure metal.” The Peninsula, with the islands adjacent
to it, certainly contain by far the most extensive tin fields in the world, extending as
they do over seventeen degrees of latitude, or from Tavoy, in north latitude, 14 , to the
island of Billiton, in south latitude, 3°. “ Seeing,” observes Mr. Logan, “ that tin is
procured in all parts of the Peninsula where it is sought for, and in proportion to the
enterprise and labour which are devoted to the search, we may consider the entire
zone as a great magazine of tin. I t is, in fact, incomparably the greatest on the
globe.” He gives examples of the extent of its distribution. Within the territory of
Jfehor, forming the southern extremity of the Peninsula, it was not thought to exist
until 1846, when it was found in several places. In 1845, the whole quantity produced
in the territory of" Malacca was about 13 tons; in 1846, it rose to 84 tons; and in
1847, when there were fifty different mines open, to 260 tons ; and this result proceeded
entirely from the application of the skill and enterprise of the Chinese, for
tin was not discovered in the Malacca territory until 1793. The intelligent writer
who furnishes these details estimates the whole produce of the Peninsula in 1848 at
2400 tons. This is constantly increasing.—forms a large portion of the consumption
of Europe, China, and India, and is the great staple product of the Peninsula and its
islands. The whole ore is “ stream,” or alluvial, and as yet the metal has not been
traced to its veins in the rock. Gold is much less abundant m the Penmsula than m
Sumatra, Borneo, or Celebes, and its whole produce is thought not to exceed 20,000
ounces a-year, less than the weekly produce of a single locality in Australia.
The Peninsula is remarkably deficient in lakes. I have heard but of one of any
extent —that which is called Brau, lying between Malacca and Penang, but I have seen
no account of it. The rivers are numerous, but small, and navigable, even for craft
of little draught, only as far as the reach of the tide. Towards their embouchures their
banks are low, muddy, and lined with mangroves, and sand-bars impede navigation at
their entrances. On the western side, the most considerable amount to six, of which
the largest are those of Perak and Jehor. The Muar, about six leagues to the south of
Malacca, has attained a Malayan celebrity from being the locality where the Javanese
refugees first established themselves after their expulsion from Singapore, and that to
which their descendants first fled when driven out of Malacca by the Portuguese.
The botany of the Peninsula is a very wide field, as yet but partially explored.
The plants put to economical uses are, however, sufficiently known. Of the great
many species of forest trees, about half-a-dozen only yield good durable timber, but
there is not one that is fit for the higher purposes of ship-building, for the teak does
not' exist. The forests yield ebony, sapan, and eagle wood, but none of them ol the
best quality, or in much abundance. They yield, also, ratans, bamboos, the mbung,
and the nipa palms, all constituting the main materials of Malayan architecture. But
their most remarkable and valuable product is the guttah-percha, a few years ago
used only for Malay horse-whips and knife-handles, but by the help of which the
English and Irish channels, the Mediterranean and the Euxine, are now crossed by
the electric telegraph. It was from the Peninsula, in fact, that this article was first
made known to Europeans, more than three centuries after the country had been
frequented by them. This was in 1843, and in justice to my relative, the late Dr.
William Montgomerie, I am bound to mention that he first made the discovery, and
was rewarded for it by the gold medal of the Society of Arts. The chief products of
agriculture are rice, the coco, and areca palms, yams, the batata, and the sugar-cane.
The esculent fruits are numerous, abundant, and some of them excellent. Incomparably
the most esteemed by the natives is the durian, which attains perfection
without culture; and by Europeans the mangostin, which is the most delicate fruit
in the world. The exotic ananas, with little or no care attains the same perfection
as the best pines of our hot-houses, and is hardly dearer than Swedish turnips. The
same soil brings such luxuries as these to perfection, which is unfruitful in the production
of the necessary food of man.
The zoology of the Peninsula is a very wide field. The following is a brief view of
some of its most remarkable animals. The quadrumanes, or apes, amount to nine,
eight monkeys, each Species having a distinct name, and a sloth, the Lemur tardigradus
of naturalists, called by the Malays the kukang, and occasionally kamalasan, that is,
“ the lazy,” or I the slothful.” Of bats, there are several species, but the most remarkable
is the vampire, or kalung of the Malays. This flies high in great flocks, and but
for larger size and slower flight, flocks of them might easily be mistaken for those of
crows or rooks. The kalung is a great enemy to the best esculent fruits. The only
plantigrade animal is a small bear, peculiar to the Peninsula and Borneo. Of viverra,
or weasels, there are four species, the largest and most singular of which is the
binturung of the natives, and the Ictides ater of naturalists. Of the feline family there
are seven, including the royal tiger and the leopard, both of them far too numerous.
The domestic cat exists, and as in Siam and the country of the Peguans, the Burmese,
and even the Japanese, always with a tail half the usual length, as if it had been
amputated. The domestic dog, the anjing of the Malays, exists in the same vagrant
Btate in which it is found in most Asiatic countries; and a wild dog is said to exist in
the woods. The otter, the mfimbrang of the Malays, exists, but seems to be scarce,
which is not easily accounted for considering the abundance of fish. The Pachy-
dermata, or thick-skinned family, consist of four, the elephant, the one-horned
rhinoceros, the same with that of Sumatra, the Malay tapir or tanau of the Malays,
and the hog. Elephants are numerous, but whether of the same species with that of
Sumatra, or with the ordinary Asiatic one, has not been ascertained. That they are
equally capable of domestication as either is certain, for they are used as beasts of
burden in the northern parts of the Peninsula, and occasionally exported to the coast
of Coromandel. The hog is found both in the wild and domestic state, and numerous
in the first, constituting the chief animal food of the nomadic races, as no doubt
before their conversion to Mohammedanism, it did of the cultivated Malays. No