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The Geolog y and Mining Industries
of Kedah and Perlis.
By E. S.
WILLBOURN,
(Assista11t Geologist, Fedeiated Malay States.)
\\ ith a geological sketch map.
I NTRODUCTION .
This report de cribes the results of field work f rom January
1922 until January 1924. Mo t of it was completed by the end
Dr 1'vl ay 1923. A con iderable amount of information was collected by Mr. ]. B. Scrivenor, Geologist, Federated Malay States, in
prev ious years, and this has been incorporated.
An accou nt, written by M r. ]. B. Scriveno r and the present
writer, of the geology of the Langkaw i Islands, and the prospects
'of min eral development, was published in October, 1923, in
Volum e I of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, with a
coloured geologica l sketch-map, so this portion of Kedah territory has not been dealt with in the present report.
During 1925, 'l ajor W.
. D. Edwardes, M.e., Assistant
Superintendent, Trigonometrical Surveys, who takes a keen inte rest in the geology of the country, gave great assistance in furnish ing a more accurate idea of the geology of t he Baling District.
It was hoped to publi h a large scale geologica l m ap, printed
in colours, but as this would have entai led con iderable expense,
the attached ketch-map mu t serve. The map used w hen doing
the field work was the 1920, 3 miles to I in ch production, but
late r a coloured geological ketch-m ap has been prepared, using
the 1925 2 mil es to I inch map as a basis, and the later
information obtained by Major Edwardes and the Malay Collectors has been used to amplify and correct the original. This
latest large scale coloured map can be examined at the Geologist's
Office, Batu Gaj ah .
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PRE IOUS LITERATURE.
The following Ii t comprises the m ost importa nt publications dealing with the geology and mining of Kedah and Perlis.
I. J ones , W . R.., D r. "Ti n and Tungsten Depo5its : The
economic sigl1Ifl cance of their relative temperatures of formation."
Bull et in of the Institu tion of M ining and Metallurgy, No. 186,
March, 1920. Vide C hapter V III.
2. Newt on, R.. 8., I. S .0. 'On Marin e Triassic Fossils from
the. 'lalayan Provi nces of Kedah a nd Perak." Geological Magaz ine, Vol. LX I I, No. 728, F~bruary 1925. pp. 76-85.
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E . S. Willbourn.
In this paper the late M r. Newton desc ribes fossils fo und
at Ku ala erang, and Kampong Kuala, in Kedah, and identifies them as marine organ isms and similar to shell-rem ains
previously found at P utus Semanggol, in Perak. I-Ie states that
the late Professor T. R. J ones was wrong in describing thePerak fossi ls as Estheriella, a Crustacean wh ich li ved in estuarine or lacustrine conditions. The fossils from Perak a nd Kedah
are marine Pelecypods and inclu de species of Halobia. Their
age is Midd le Trias. Extracts from the paper are given in
Chapter VI.
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3. "On Fusuli11a and other organisms in a partially cal-·
ca reous qua rtzite from nea r the Malayan-Si amese frontier. "·
Ann a ls and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 9, Vol. XVI I., pp.
49 64, J anua ry, 1926.
The late Mr. Newton describes fossils fou nd nea r boundary
stones 9 and lOin the north Oof Perl is, occurri ng in beds of hard
quartzite with calcareous cement, interstratified with shales. Th emost abu nda nt organism belong to the fora miniferou s genus,
Fusulina, whilst ot her include remains of corals (Stenopora) ,
crinoidal stem fragments, pol yzoa (Fellestellidae) , and imperfect
casts Oof pelecypod valves. The presence of true Fusulina is of
chief importance, howeve r, for st ratigraphica l results, because
that genus is characteristic of the you ngest Carboniferous deposits.
(O ura li a n) as well as of beds of Permi an age, thus forming a
definite Palaeozoic horizon which is often referred to as Ouralian-Permi an, or Permo = Carboniferous.
4. R.id ley, H. N. "The Flora of Lower Siam." Journal of
the Straits Branch Royal Asiatic Society.
o. 59 August 1911,
p. 30 .
. M r. Ridley suggests on botanical ev idence, that at no great
distance of time the flat land of Kedah was under the sea,
in which Gunong J erai and GUIlong Perak stood nut as islands
as Pena ng does at the present day, and that the present flora of
Province Wellesley and Gunong .I erai came up from the south
while the flora of the country from Bangtaphan to Alor Star
came fro m Burmah sOouthwa rds.
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On page 43 .1\1 r. Ridl ey mention s "sea bird Guano " in a:
la rge cave at Chuping. He is evidently refe rring to the deposits
of phosphate which are described later in the chapter on limestone. It is certainly not guano now; it may have been formed
by the interaction of guano with limestone.
5. "The natu ral Histo ry of Kedah Peale" Journal of the
Federated Malay States j\llu seu ms, Vol. VI I, part lI , December
191 6, pp. 37 and 38.
M r. Ridley says : " The flora of Kedah Pea k bears a considerable resembl ance to that of Mt. Ophir .......... There can be
little doubt that Mt. Ophir was at one time an island detached
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Geology and Mining Industries of Kedah and Perl is.
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from the mainland as Penang i to this day, and it seems highly
probable that Kedah Peak may have been simi larly isolated."
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6. Robinson , H. C. and C. Boden K loss. "The j atural
History of. Kedah Peak." Journal of the Federated Malay
States Museums. Vol. VI, Part IV, February 1916, pp. 219 244.
The introduction de cribe Kedah Peak: It is quite isolated, standing on a base that doe not exceed 50 square miles,
and is separated by low land not exceeding 50 feet in elevation
from all other hills. rts slopes to the north and west are much
steeper than those to the south and east, and vertical rock
faces, many hundreds of feet in he.ight, exist. Geologically
the mountain appears to con ist of sand tones and quartzites
of varying degrees of hardness, traversed by veins of quartz,
while in one or two places depo its of haematite are found. It
is well watered , being cut into by three great valleys which ha e
been utilised for a water upply to the neighbouring districts,
and the cliffs are ornamented in several places by cascades
which are very conspicuous after wet weathe r of any duration."
From an examination of the mammal fauna and the birds
the authors infer "That Kedah Peak has never been connected
either with the Trang mountains or tho e of the Main Range
in such a manner ' as to permit the passage of the fauna of these
two districts to it."
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7. Scrivenol·,.J. B. "Geologist's An nu a l Report for the
yea r 191 0." Supplement to the" F.M.S. Government Gazette,"
May 12, 1911 , Kuala Lumpur.
An investigation was made of a reported occurrence of coal
near Kulim. It had been tated that the coa l was found on, or
near, Victoria Estate, but, on cleaning out the well, not a trace
of coa l was found in it. Pieces of coal with tin-slag were found
in a heap of debris near by, so it i possible that secret smelting
operations had be n carried on, but it was not discovered where
the coal had been brought from.
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8. "Memorandum on the pos ibility of obtaining supplies
of artesian water in the F.M . . " Kuala Lumpur 191 1.
A bore for artesian water was put down near Alor Star.
After 60 feet it passed from alluvium into qua rtzite and continued
in that rock to 130 feet until the bore was stopped. No good
supply of water was tapped. It is interesting to have the reco rd
of the hallownes of alluvium at Alor Star, but it is probable
that the bore struck the top of an eminence arising from the
floor under the Recent deposits. Probably the average depth of
alluvium is much more than 60 feet.
9. '~A sketch of the geologica l structu re of the Malay
Penin ula," J ournal of the traits Branch, Royal Asiatic Society.
No. 59, August 191 1, P p. I 13.
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1926] Royal Asiatic Society.
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292
M r. Scrivenor corrects the erro r wh ich had fou nd its way
into Suess's book "Das Antl itz Der E rde," tha t t he Laka\vn
Range enters the Peninsula from Siam to form t he m a in granite
range.
10. "Geologist's Annua l Report for the yea r 1911 , Kuala
Lu m pur. An analysis of monaz ite from K ulim is given.
11. "Geological Histo ry of the Malay Penin sula." Quarterly J ournal of the Geological Society, 01. lxix, 19 13, pp. 343-
37 1.
The Kedah Singgora Range was said to be composed of
quartz ite and shale, a nd it was thought that none of its summits
reached 1000 feet above sea level. Surveys made sin ce 19 13 show
t hat some of t he hill s a re hi gher t han t his, and a granite m ass
occupies the hig hest grou nd, in t he m idd le of the quartz ite and
hale count ry .
A well preserved beach at t he foot of Gu no ng Keri ang, nea r
Alo r Star, is cited as evidence t hat the flat land, west o f t he Kedah
Si nggo ra Range, was not long ago unde r the sea.
L . "Geologist's Annual Report for the year 19 13," Ku ala
Lumpu r. In t hi s report Mr. Sc rivenor mentions his u n published
report on t he Economic Geology of Perl is. Mate ri a l f rom this
is incorpo rated in the p resent wo rk.
13. "Geologist's Annual Repo rt fo r the yea r 19 14," Kua la
Lumpu r. A description is given of rocks from Ba li ng dist rict.
loot "Geologist's Ann ual Report for the yea r 19 19," Kuala
Lu m pu r. A descri ption is given of p rospecti ng work done near
t he coal- bea ring rocks on the Perl is-Siam bou nda ry . An account
of this is given in the present \vo rk.
The geology and mi nera l of Keda h Peak and t he L ang kaw i
Islands a re descri bed.
15. "Geologist's Annua l Report fo r t he yea r 1920," Ku a la
Lumpu r. Details a re given of t he two bo res sunk to 8 1 feet
a nd 68 feet on t he coa l- bea ri ng beds in Perl is.
16. " Geologist's An nua l Repo rt fo r t he yea r 192 1," Ku ala
Lu m pur. Detail s of t he 205 feet bo re in the Perli s coal measu res
.a re gIven.
M r. Scri veno r suggested t hat the p hosphate of Perl is m ay be
p resent as amo rpho us a lumini um p hosp hate. Ana lyses m ade
in ce t hen in d icate th at the . phosp hate is p resent as hydrated
calcium p hosph ate.
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This subject is dea lt wit h in the chapte r on lim esto ne.
17. Scrivenor, J. B., and E. S . Willbourn. tt The Geology
of t he Lang kaw i I lands" with a geolog ical s ketch map. Mal ayan
B ranch Royal As iatic Society No. 88 Octo ber 1923, pp. 338 347.
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Geology and Mining Industries of Kedah and Perlis.
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The geology of the Langkawj I lands is not dealt with in
the present paper as the above account dealt with it completely enough.
18. Va Je n tyn's Description of Malacca, translated by Mr.
Muller, Governm nt translator. j ou rnal of the Straits Branch of
the Roya l A iatic ociety, o. 13, june 1884.
The author mention a factory in " Quedah " with an nderfactor and a ettleme nt to barter tin gold, and elephants for
the Hon'ble Company, but owing to trouble the factory had to·
be closed down in 1656.
19. WiJlbourn, E. S. "Geologist's . nnual repo rt for th e
year 1922." Thi g ives a remme of results of the survey to the
en I of 1922, which arc now given in extenso.
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND GENER L GEOLOGICAL SKETCH.
The most acces ible part of Kedah is the strip of flat ground
which is crossed from south to north by the road and railway,
and as the large r part of the State is not traversed by any
important line of communication, a visitor pa ing through the
country receive the impre ion that Kedah i very flat. He would
quickly change hi s mind if he were to go on a journey of exploration in the little-known eastern half of the State. 'W ith the exception of the roads from Padang Serai to Baling, Weng . and
Kroh , and from lor Star to Kuala . erang, he would have to
rely on rivers and jungle paths. The country formed of sedimentary rocks is hill y, and where the quartzites and shales have
been metamorphosed, and hard ened, by igneous masses, their
resistance to denudation has left high peak, such as Gunong
jerai, and the hill s south of Sintok. The most mountainou part,
however, is in the granite country on the eastern side of Central
Kedah which extend s over the boundary into Siam.
S ungei Mllda. The large t river in Kedah is Sungei Muda.
It flows along the northern fringe of these mountains, fed by a
number of tributaries which rise in the highlands between Gunong
Kubang Badak and Bukit Bubu , and in the shale and quartzite
country as far we t a the Bukit Pakir Terbang Range.
ear
j eneri the Muda Valley pa es between Bukit Perak, a long high
granite ridge, a nd the high granite liills on the east ban k,.
Granite outcrops can be seen in the river over a short distC:lp.ce
only, and from her to the sea the river pur ues an even course
along a gentle gradient, with very few rock exposures.
U lu Ket i J. The ea tern central granite mass is, on the surface, almo t divided ' into two by a tongue of sed iments which
tart north of \Veng and runs in a southerly direction to Baling.
This furrow in the urface of the granite has determined the
position of the valley of Sungei Ulu Ketil. A road has recently
been made from Baling to Weng, and it would be an easy matter
to prolong it to beyond Tanjong Pari. The construction of a.
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f urther extension over th e g rani te mou nta ins to So k would be
m ore d ifficult . The gra nite count ry between Weng and Sik and
to the no rt h of t hi s lin e is very rugged, bu t to t he so uth , near
Ba lin g, t he g ranite ri dges a re lower. The path fro m C harok
P elando k . to Kua la Kupa ng follows approxi m ately the line of
-contact of the grani te wit h sediments.
Limestone h ill in Ulu M uda. O n th e m ap a limestone
h ill , Gu nong L a bu a h, is m a rked in the headwaters of Sungei
M uda, nea r the Siamese bou nda ry, but its pos ition is not accur ate ly known.
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Baling Hi ll . Baling limesto ne hill is usua lly v iewed from
t he Ba lin g road, fro m whi ch' it seems to be a so lid m ass of limesto ne several mil es acros . From the no rth, o r better still , from
th e su mmit of t he hill itself, it is seen to be a natural amphith eat re like the wangs of P erl is, horse-shoe shaped, with an opening
2 mil es across at its north ern side. There is a not her much
sm all er openin g at the south-west co rner, nea r Pul a i, which is
known as pintu wang . Th e lim estone cI iffs are very impo ing on
the inner walls of the am phitheat re, and, in comp a rison, the low
rolling g round insid e appea rs to be qu ite flat. Actu all y there are
hill s up to about fifty feet in height, and it is interes ting to note
th at they a re bu ilt of sandstone and ,shale.
View from Bal ing Hill. The t op of Baling Hill is a good
spot fo r v iewi ng t he whole of the southern part of Kedah ;
Gunong J erai ( Keda h Pea k), Bukit M ertajam, and Penang
Island can all be easily picked out, as well as a n umber of less
con spicuous hill s. T he rising ground to the east of Baling is t he
beginni ng of a broad expanse of p latean land wh ich extends in to
Upper Perak and Siam.
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Li m estone rid g e near P e rak bo rde r, south-east of
Baling. T he presence of th is hill was reported by Majo r W.A .D .
Edwardes, and Ma lay Col lecto rs were sent to visit it in December,
1925 . Th ey fou nd a hi gh limestone ridge, bui lt up, at any rate
in pa rt, of coa rsely crysta llin e ma rble. The cou ntry o n its east
side is g rani te.
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Bi ntang . The g rani te range, whi ch sta rts f rom t he Dindings and passes to the nort h t h roug h Pera k, ends ab rupt ly after
entering Kedah territo ry . Gunong Bin tang, 6 103 feet, on t he
Kedah Pera k bou nda ry is m uch highe r t han any ot her peak in
Kedah. G unong Kanga r, 4760 feet, is a g ranite peak not fa r
from Bin tang. T he cou nt ry in Ulu S. Kuang, near t he bou nda ry,
has not been v isited, but a view fro m a hillock of sa ndstone
about five mil es upst ream f rom Kua la K upang showed t hat t he
bou nda ry lies on an expanse of flat land, in all p robabili ty an
a rea of sed iments separat in g t he Bintang grani te f rom t he southe rn p rolongation of the Baling g rani te.
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Near Mahang. The granite which occupie the I ulim
Oi trict, extending to Gunong Bong u, is separated on the surface
from the Bintang granite by a north and south belt of sediment,
forming an area of flat or rolling country between the two
mountain ranges. There are small deserted mines in the flat
country to the north of 1\1 ahang, but, with the exception of a
lampan ncar Karangan, the only miners in the district in 1923
were tin- tealers.
The Kulim granite mass. Parts of the northern margin of
the Kulim, Bongsu, R lau, Panchor granite are minerali ed, but
mining operation here are on a very small scale. There were
mine nea r Kulim , now abandoned, and a mine is being worked
a few mile from Karangan. There are al 0 deserted lampans in
the arne district. On the whole it is an ea y matter to map the
boundary of this granite, becau e, as a rule, the edi ments do not
form such bold hill ranges as does the granite.
Sediments in South Kedah. In the quadrangle between
the Kulim granite the Bintang granite, the Baling granite,
Gunong jerai, and the coa tal plain of alluvium, there is an
expanse of hilly land built up of quartzite, sand tone, shale and
chert. The sedim nt have a general north and outh strike, and,
in the ca e of more thinl y bedded rock, such as the chert, the
dips are nearly vertical owing to a ucce ion of sharp fold.
The north and outh trike i t pical of all the sediment in
Kedah, and local exception can be explained by the pre ence of
granite intrusion. On the we t of this quadrangle, and outh
of Gunong jerai, are shales with no sandy bed; all exposures
show a mas ively bedded red shale. The red colour is due to
weathering, and the unaltered bed are black in colour. The
best exposure are on Bukit Sungei Pasir, and on the i olated
hills near Kuala Merbok. It would eem that the four i lands
Bidan, Telor, ;rukun Terendak, and ongsong, are built up of
the arne eries, \ ith the difference that some limestone is found
in Bidan, and there is calcareou grit in Tukun Terendak.
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Red Shale. Volcanic Tuff. Although there are good exposures of the red hale in the hill near Kuala Merbok, yet no
fo il have yet been found in them, and it is not possible to say
definitely whether the beds are younger or older than the quartzite of Kedah Peak and the chert, shale, and quartzite, of the
Baling road, but the presence of limestone on Pulau Bidan makes
it probable that the red shale are pa age beds between the
lime tone erie, developed in Baling, and the overlying arenaceous
beds. The eastern boundary of the area occupied by the red
shales i indicated by a dotted line on the geological sketch
map. There is a hortage of good road metal up to the 36th
mile on the Baling road, becau e of the absence of unweathered
quartzite, and at pre ent the only supplies are drawn from
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quarries of weathered chert. At the 36th mile there is an exposure
of hard volcanic tuff which gives a satisfactory road metal.
Gunong Jerai. Gunong j erai, 3987 feet, is a most imposing
pile, seen from many points of view from land and sea. It is
built up of quartz ite which has been made highly resistant to
weathel'ing by. the harden ing metamorphic action of granite
intru ions. Probably the core of the mountain is a mass of
granite, for some of the foot-hills on the south and outh-west
side are granite or pegmatite, and intrusions of sheared graniteporphyry are exposed on the mountain, some quite near the
summit. There are ery precipitous cliffs, one, on the south side
near the top, being particularly conspicuous. I t is characteristic
of quartzite hill s that th ey ha\ e steeper slopes than hills of
granite, and the fact can be used sometimes to map the granite
contact in difficult count ry . For instance, Bukit Kepala Gajah,
which is one of the hi lls attendant on jerai, can fairly surely be
mapped as qua rtzite on account of its steep contou rs. The
g ranite intrusion near Gunong j erai is tin -bearing, and ti n-mining has been carried on near Semiling for some time. Coarsegrained pegmatites were recently worked for mica near Tanjong
J aga. There are reports that gold was found in the mou ntai n,
but no confirmation of this has been obtained.
Bandar Bahru. The sedimentary rocks lying between t he
Ku lim and the Binta ng gran ite, exposed on the Bandar Bahru
.and Selama roads, are arenaceous, and si mil ar lit hologically
to t he Guno ng j erai qua rtz ite and to t he quartzite and shale
exposed in t he cou ntry to t he east and nort h-east of Gu nong
j erai. Althoug h Pulau Kera is outside Keda h te rritory, yet it
may be ment ioned as belo nging to the same se ries . It lies
between the g ranite of Penang Island and t he Kulim granite.
Plains. There is a small al luv ial -plain to t he sout h of
Gunong j erai, from which vario us hills of red shale stand out
l ike islands f rom the sea, and there is a much larger plai n on t he
nort h side of the mou ntain . It extends into Perl is to wit hin
a few mi les of the Siam borde r, and east of Alor Star a narrow
deep bay of al luviu m penetrates in land as fa r as Kampong
Pin ang. It is possible to d raw a line from the sea eastwa rds
t hroug h Alor Star, on pe rfect ly flat cou ntry fo r more t han half
t he breadt h of t he State at its widest part. A good deal has
already been done towa rds irrigating t he plai n by means of
<canals, and t here are very large areas still remai ning to be
.developed.
~edime.ntary r~cks in Nort.h Kedah . Apart f rom this
.allUVIal plam, a sen es of qua rtzItes and shales occu pies the
greater pa rt of nort hern Keda h, and as in South Kedah, t he rocks
are associated with radio lari an chert. They form part of the
se ri es, you nger t han t he limestone, that is extensively developed
throug hout the Malay Peninsula and fo rtu nately t here is deci-
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sive evidence to g ive the age of one horizon in Kedah. Fossils.
found in black shal
in te rbedded with quartzites at Kuala
Nerang, and nea r the Bukit P ak ir Terbang conglomerate range,
are simil ar to tho e found m any years ago nea r Taiping in
Perak, and they were tated by the late Mr. R. Bullen ewton,
of the British Museum of 'atural Hi torv,
, to beof Middle Triassic
age. Conglomerates are commonly developed east of Kuala
Nerang, as in the neighbourhood of th e fossils found nea r
Taiping, and the Bukit Pakir Terbang R a nge, which forms the
State boundary to the east of Kampong Kuala, is built up olely
of them. P arts of the range, on its western (f eda h) ide, have
vertical cliffs hundreds of feet in height, and it \vould be quite
a feat of climbing to a cend to th e Trigonometrical Survey
beacon from this side. The slope are much gent ler in Siam.
In 1922 a view from the summit of Bukit Per'lk, many miles
away, sho,; ed that the three-peaked hill, Batu Tajam , marked as
1896 feet in height, to the sout h of Bukit Pakir Terbang, was
once probably part of the sa me range, because its bold contours
suggest that it too is m ade up of conglomerate. This was confirmed later by Major Edwarde , who went along the ridge including
Batu Tajam and Bukit Sayong. The pebble in the rock at
Gintang Kerinai and Bukit Pakir Terbang are commonly twoinches aero s, and boulders with a diameter of one foot are not
uncommon.
Metamorphosed Sedimentaries in North Kedah. The
quartzite and shale in the neig hbourhood of Padang Pelandok
and the Alor Star Catchment Area seem to be underlain at no •
great depth by granite, indicating that the gra"nite intrusion
exposed at Pintu Wang and on the boundary at ](ao Mai has
a much greater lateral extent a sho rt distance underground than
on the urface. Thi i seen by the wide-spread metamorphism of
the shales and quartzite in the two districts above-mentioned.
There is a very beautiful gorge in the Catchment Area in which
the metamorphosed shale and quartzite are well displayed.
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In the north-east corner of the State, to the east of Kao Mai,
the boundary is quite low, and there are no striking features.
Ginting Pahat, at boundary tone 34, is a V-shaped pa between
two hills. It is about fifty ya rd long and fifty feet deep, and at
the bottom of it is only two or three feet wide. It has been
formed as a result of the natural erosive action of two streams
which have worked backwards to meet at their headwaters, one
the S. Tempat, flowing westwards in to Kedah, the other, the S.
Langetap, flowing into Siam. The walls of the valley are of red
earth in which are embedded fragments of fine grained schist,
which looks like metamorpho ed and tone. No granite is known
to outcrop near here, but it probably underlies the sediments at
a shallow depth.
1926] Royal A siatic Society.
"
•
E. S. Willbourn.
29
The watershed to the \Vest of Ginting Pahat,
which form the boundary between iam and Kedah, is all low,
Ie s than 1000 feet above ea level, until the granite slopes of
Kao Mai, _-l 6 feet, are reached, near Kampong Seraya, and
here the country i more mountainous. . a tin deposits are known,
though there ~re mines working on the arne intrusion, nea r
Padang Pelandok, in Ilu Badak, and at Pintu \\ ang, a few
miles from Ban ebaoein.
This
i
the
intrusion
that
has
caused
the wide pread metamorphi mouth of Padang Pelandok, and
the effect on the topography has been to leave hill of altered
ediments, o\'er 2000 feet high, that haye re i ted denudation as
stubbornly as granite.
Kao Mai.
P r ominen t hills in the coas t a l plain . Between t hese
chi ts and the coa tal plain, les trongly metamo rphosed sedimentary rock form an area of rolling count ry, bounded on the
we t by a number of rather prominent quartzite hi lls, whose
lope di appear under alluvium. The e hills, Bukit Talipong,
1-71 feet, Bukit Tunjang, 987 feet, and further sout h, Bukit
Tinggi, -l3 feet, and Bukit H ijau, -l8-l feet, were in Recent t imes
a natural barrier against the eastward creeping sea. The sea
bottom wa being co\·ered by mud, and, and silt, brought dow n
b rivers from the hill, a that, when uplift took place, the new
land that emerged \\'a a flat plain.
number of islands and
irregularitie on the ea floor that had not been silted over are
een at the present day as i alated hill in the alluvial flat, and
certain area of low undulating countr', uch as that between
ungei Patani and Gurun and in the north and east of Perl is,
were wept by the ea, and probably denuded, to orne extent,
by the action of the waves.
PERPUSTAKAAN
NEGARAMALAYSI
A
East bou nda r y of P e dis. There are no natural features
forming the boundary between Kedah and Perl is. The wate rhed at the ea t boundary of Perlis and iam is nowhere very
ltigh, Bukit Tinggi, 378 feet, being the highest point. Tertiary
bed with interbedded coal seam are known to occur near Bukit
Tinggi, but neither their lateral extent nor their thickness has
yet bee!1 pro,·ed. They are known not to reach so far as Padang
Be ar m the north, and an outcrop of ancient quartzites and
. hales \Va noted by 1\;1r.
rivenor in the west, but it is quite
po sible that they extend to the south-east across the Chanalun
inggora road. One weathered road-cutting gave the only"'evidence, and it \yas not po ible to decide from this whether the
rock were of. Tertiary age or more ancient. Owing to the
gently undulatmg nature of the countr along this watershed
there are very few exposure of rock, and recourse must be had
to boring before definite information can be obtained. Prospecting work carried out by the Railway Department, Federated
.Malay States, is de cribed in a later chapter.
journal Malayan Branch [ 01. IV,
•