August 14th.—The ship being now completed for sea, weighed anchor, and stood over, with a fair light wind, for the west side of the gulf. On the following morning both sides of the bay were in sight. We were within twelve or fifteen miles’ distance of the west coast. Its appearance is singularly picturesque, yet greatly dissimilar from that of the opposite side. The most marked difference consists in the absence of islands on this, while on the opposite they are innumerable.
An extensive low ground, covered with thick woods, stretches along the sea-coast. We could here see abundance of palms growing; the Palmyra appeared to be the most common. Appearances would lead us to infer this low ground to be well inhabited. The lofty mountains in the back-ground render this country singularly picturesque. Sam-rayot, signifying three hundred peaks, the name by which the Siamese designate this tract, is expressive of its appearance. The mountain ranges run in the direction of north and south. They are very elevated, extremely rugged on their flanks, as well as summits, projecting into innumerable bold conical peaks. It is perhaps a singular circumstance, considering that the direction of these mountain ranges is from north to south, that they are steepest towards the east, while, of mountains so distributed, it has been observed, that the steepest acclivities lie towards the west.
Another singular circumstance in the appearance of these mountains, is that of the insulated situation of some of the loftiest peaks, or rather mountains. Three of the latter are perfectly conical, lofty, and very steep, and their position is perfectly insular, miles intervening between them and the mountain ranges from which they stand detached. They are situated upon the flat, apparently alluvial, ground already mentioned.
The greater hardness of the granitic mass in these will hardly account for this circumstance.
16th.—Continued our course along the west side of the gulf, until we had nearly gained Point Kui. From this part of the coast we could descry the islands off Cape Liant on the opposite side of the gulf. The mountain ranges which were first visible when we were opposite to Sam-ra-yot, stretch southward as far as the eye can trace them, without apparent deviation of form or altitude.
On the 17th, we stood over to the opposite coast. We had now the regular monsoon from the south-west. The wind steady, and the sea moderate, but the weather almost constantly cloudy and damp. A small species of swallow abounds in this part of the bay. Several of them alighted on the ship, and suffered themselves to be taken.
On the morning of the 19th, Pulo Panjang, an island about three miles long, surrounded by several lesser ones, situated a little way within the entrance of the gulf, and distant from the land on both sides, came in sight. The situation might be considered singular. It has been rarely visited by Europeans, and the accounts we have of it, as well as of its geographical position, are very imperfect. On viewing scenes unfrequented by man, the imagination is but too apt to disappoint the sober expectations of experience. From the familiar and the common, it leaps at once into the extravagant, captivated with the visionary fabric of its own creation.
The imperfection of our knowledge, independent of the peculiar situation of P. Panjang, in an extensive gulf, little subject to the influence of storms, had awakened expectation, which the magnitude of the island, the tabular form of its central range of hills, and the appearance of bold, precipitous rocks, were calculated to augment on a more close inspection.
But nature does not always appear under new forms when we most expect them. At four p. m. we cast anchor on the north side of the island, about its middle, and immediately landed. An aspect more steril than ordinary seemed to forbid our approach. The shores were rocky and precipitous, and though there was but little swell in the sea, we found some difficulty in reaching the shore. From the centre of the island to the sea-shore, the land was abrupt and steep, there being not the smallest extent of level ground. It is everywhere covered with vegetation, of which a great part of that nearest the beach and exposed to the direct influence of the monsoon, is stunted, herbaceous, and disposed in what may be called laid plains or ledges, as if the herbage had received the impression of pernicious blasts.
The coast of this island is everywhere surrounded by large fragmented masses of sandstone, in which there is, on the whole, but little variety of appearance. In situ, it is disposed in large, nearly horizontal, tabular masses, at a distance wearing somewhat of a slaty appearance. The sand-stone is for the most part red, at other times white or gray. It is coarse-grained and gritty, presenting no vestige of organic remains; here and there it is coloured with iron. The cement in most parts seems to be calcareous. Here and there, large masses of conglomerate are found; the masses that I have seen were all detached, but in some parts the surface of the sand-stone shewed where they had adhered; the structure of this was complex; iron seemed to form the cement; rounded pebbles of quartz, sand-stone, iron ore and jasper, with small bits of clay-slate, form the aggregate. Scattered over the beach, there were found masses of coarse jasper.