Pugong, was supposed to be chiefly a bed of rock crystal,
but upon examination of specimens taken from thence they proved to be
calcareous spar.

HOT SPRINGS.

Mineral and hot springs have been discovered in many districts. In taste
the waters mostly resemble those of Harrowgate, being nauseous to the
palate.

EARTH OIL.

The oleum terrae, or earth oil, used chiefly as a preservative against
the destructive ravages of the white-ants, is collected at Ipu and
elsewhere.*

(*Footnote. The fountain of Naphtha or liquid balsam found at Pedir, so
much celebrated by the Portuguese writers, is doubtless this oleum
terrae, or meniak tanah, as it is called by the Malays.)

SOFT ROCK.

There is scarcely any species of hard rock to be met with in the low
parts of the island near the seashore. Besides the ledges of coral, which
are covered by the tide, that which generally prevails is the napal, as
it is called by the inhabitants, forming the basis of the red cliffs, and
not infrequently the beds of the rivers. Though this napal has the
appearance of rock it possesses in fact so little solidity that it is
difficult to pronounce whether it be a soft stone or only an indurated
clay. The surface of it becomes smooth and glossy by a slight attrition,
and to the touch resembles soap, which is its most striking
characteristic; but it is not soluble in water and makes no effervescence
with acids. Its colour is either grey, brown, or red, according to the
nature of the earth that prevails in its composition. The red napal has
by much the smallest proportion of sand, and seems to possess all the
qualities of the steatite or soap-earth found in Cornwall and other
countries. The specimens of stone which I brought from the hills in the
neighbourhood of Bencoolen were pronounced by some mineralogists, to whom
I showed them at the time, to be granite; but upon more particular
examination they appear to be a species of trap, consisting principally
of feldspar and hornblende, of a greyish colour and nearly similar to the
mountain stone of North Wales.

PETRIFACTION.

Where the encroachments of the sea have undermined the land the cliffs
are left abrupt and naked, in some places to a very considerable height.
In these many curious fossils are discovered, such as petrified wood, and
seashells of various sorts. Hypotheses on this subject have been so ably
supported and so powerfully attacked that I shall not presume to intrude
myself in t