-:: About this place there are many legends amongst the natives, but hitherto no European has ever been allowed to visit it, and I think your readers will be pleased to have an account of it. Native rumour describes it as an ancient ruin, the inmates of which, as well as all their furniture and utensils, have been turned to stone. This is the substance of most of the native descriptions of the place. Here, they say, can be seen the old man of the house sitting on his chair by his oven or furnace, the ashes or slag of which are strewn on the floor, whilst his tools are lying around him just as he had been using them when dissolution or petrifaction overtook him, and man and chair, oven, ashes, tools, all are turned to stone ! Petrified loaves of bread are not wanting, and in an adjacent cupboard, to complete the picture, can be seen the flour and sugar which he had been in the habit of using, now all flavourless and turned to dust. In the course of narration, particulars in the native accounts accumulate, but it is needless to go further into details. 

The story was imparted to me whilst lying becalmed opposite Kwala Kuantan, and seven idle Malay boatmen under the combined influence of sirih and roko^ assisted in spinning the yarn. I must say that I was not deeply impressed with the truth of the narrative as a whole, but comparing what I heard with what I had previously seen on the Patani river, I was enabled to guess what these fabled ruins would turn out to be. Nevertheless, my curiosity was excited, as that of other Europeans has been, regarding this place, and I resolved to see it if I possibly could.

Circumstances favoured this resolve without any effort on my part, for as we were making our way up the river Pahang, we were detained for two days at Pulau Tawar, from which Kota Glanggi is distant only about three or four miles, and the Sultan having given me a carte blanche to visit whatever place I chose, I availed myself of this opportunity to settle the question as to these ancient ruins. 

The wonderful ruins are, after all, only limestone caves, with no trace of man's handiwork about them, and no evidence whatever of having ever been even occupied by man. Still, as caves they are wonderful and well deserve a visit Before proceeding to describe them, I think it will not be out of place to make a brief reference to what I had previously seen of the same kind on the Patani river. I was detained on one occasion in a similar manner at a place called Biserah in the Province of Jalor, where there are some isolated limestone ranges of the same character as those at Kota Glanggi, and was told of a wonderful cave in one of them, but no mention was made of man having had anything to do with it, or of any wonders similar to those alleged of Kota Glanggi, I went to see this cave, and found it situated about a hundred feet above the base of a precipitous cliff; a long flight of steps broad and regular, partly built and partly cut in the solid rock, led up to the entrance.

On entering I found, after penetrating a small cavern, a couple of large doors closing up the approach to what was apparently the cave we were seeking. On opening these doors, I was startled at the sight of what appeared, in the dim light, to be a row of giant men guarding the entrance; a closer investigation proved them to be statues, and, as I afterwards found, Siamese idols. Passing this guard, we made our way along a lofty natural corridor or vestibule, and found ourselves in an immense cavern about sixty feet in height, two hundred feet wide, and about five hundred feet long. From its roof hung masses of stalactites resembling the groins of an arched roof, and stretched in a recumbent position, lengthways of the cave, and facing a large opening in the cliff, which let in a flood of light, lay a figure, about one hundred feet long, of what I took to represent Bhudda. The head reclined upon the right arm, whilst the left arm lay by the side of the figure, the face was tolerably well painted, and the robe was coloured green and its edges gilt. In front of this image and at its bead and feet were collossal statues of other idols, some erected on pedestals, and from fifteen to twenty feet high ; there were in all eighteen of these statues. The place was kept tolerably clean, being evidently swept occasionally ; how long this cave had been used as a place of worship, I could not learn. This cavern-temple was tended by a company of Siamese Imams who dwelt at the foot of the cliff and had besides a small temple outside. 

Since then I have seen and traversed many other wonderful caves amongst the limestone mountains on the Patani River, some of them with rivers running right through them, but I never saw any that could compete in natural grandeur and imposing effect with those at Kota Glanggi.

The situation of the limestone range in which the latter exist, will be best indicated on the Asiatic Society's map of the Malay Peninsula by the word "Gold" marked below Kg. Penghulu Gendong Jelei. About this point a small river called the Tekam falls into the Pahang, and about three miles up the course of this river, the caves arc reached. There are a good many of them, but only the four principal ones. Kota Tongkat, Kota Burong, Kota Glanggi and Kota Papan — are deserving of notice. Kota Tongkat and Kota Papan are the nearest, and are close together : Kota Burong is the furthest off, and Kota Glanggi lies between.

Kuta Tongkat as it is seen and entered, is like the gigantic entrance to some vast citadel ; it is open on two sides, it pierces the ridge of limestone under which it lies from one side to the other, and the road leads right through it. This extensive natural porch is supported, or appears to be supported, by huge columns of stalactites and stalagmites, which have thickened through the dripping of endless ages, until they have become like the pillars of some great temple. This, so far as I saw at the time, is the only entrance to a valley which lies basin-like at the foot of a range of hills. As a natural fort, this place would be impregnable ; a handful of men, to use the hackneyed phrase, could hold it against an army. 

Passing through Kota Tongkat, we went first to Kota Burong. I was rather disappointed with this cave, but it was well I saw it first and not last. It lies low, and consists of two or three long and wide, comparatively low-roofed caverns, of great extent, but not imposing in appearance. The most striking feature about it was the enormous number of bats that swarmed in myriads, and the flutter of whose wings made a noise like the distant sound of a water-fall ; indeed I mistook it for that at first, and expected to meet with a subterraneous river, but was soon disabused of that idea. We had about twenty torches, and the bats came fluttering around us so thickly, that I kept bobbing my head about perpetually to avoid their dashing against my face, but the marvel was that, although two or three times one brushed my sleeve not once did we collide. The air was so dense with them, that it seemed an utter impossibility to pass and repass amongst them without coming in contact.

We next inspected Kota Glanggi, which is situated higher up the cliffs. It is approached through a narrow entrance of some length, from which one emerges into a fine, open, lofty cave, with a large opening in the face of the cliff. As this entrance, brought us in at the back of the cave, the first effect produced on looking through the stupendous gloom which surrounded us to the distant yet dazzling light of this opening, was very fine, and this effect was enhanced by the circumstance that about twenty of our company had reached the cave before us, and having seated themselves close to the opening, looked like so many pigmies, whose small dark forms were thrown athwart the light with startling distinctness of outline, and served to give some idea of the vast proportions of the cavern. The appearance of this cave is not unlike that I have described on the Patâni, but much larger in its proportions; from it, however, branch off other eaves of extraordinary height. Ascending a steep and slippery incline at an angle of about 60° or 70° by the aid of holes chipped in the rock, a gallery is reached, on each side of which rises a lofty dome about one hundred feet high, and both narrow, one being only about fifteen feet wide at the bottom ; one of these domes is lighted from the top by three round holes which are placed at regular intervals and give the roof almost the appearance of artificial construction, whilst the narrower one is lighted by a square hole near the top and looks like a gigantic belfry ; a third, rather wider, leads up, hv a serieB of cyclopean steps, to a narrow exit higher up the precipice, and from this we emerged, and by the aid of a rattan climbed up and over an awkward ledge, and reached a jagged pinnacle four hundred feet high, with a sheer drop to the valley beneath. From this point we had a very fine view of the country and of distant mountains, by means of which I obtained some good bearings for future guidance. 

Retracing our steps, we approached Kôta Pâpan, which is really the great cave of the district. Our road lay through another part of Kôta Tongkat, a series of dark and dangerous galleries, with dismal abysses of unknown depth, yawning at our feet ; along one of these we had to travel by a narrow ledge against an overhanging wall to the right, whilst to the left one of these horrid gulphs was gaping to receive us in its maw, should we make a false step. At last we emerged from this “hell’s gate,” and found ourselves under the entrance to Kôta Pâpan, but no one unacquainted with the locality would ever guess that there was a cave here at all, much less one of such gigantic proportions as this. An overhanging ledge projects from the face of the cliff, and up to this we climbed by the aid of a rattan ladder. Reaching the ledge, we found an insignificant-looking entrance, with no appearance of depth or size. Stepping within, however, we were assailed by a blast of air which came rushing continuously from the interior with an amazing force and with a sound like the rumbling in a chimney on a windy night. This considerably disconcerted our torch-bearers, whose futile attempts to light their damars were accompanied by volleys of “chĕlâkas.” Having at last got our torches alight, we began first to descend, then to ascend, then to descend and ascend again, wending our way between immense angular masses of fallen stone, and groping and clambering with hands and feet over shin-breaking ledges, until we found ourselves involved in a labyrinth of passages. Selecting that on the right, our guides led us into the great cave of Kôta Pâpan. 

I do not know how to describe it, language fails me, from the fact that there are no familiar objects to which I can liken it. Perhaps the dome of St. Paul’s might serve to give some idea of the height and size, but the cave is polysided. It is lighted from a grotto-like opening in one of its sides about twenty feet above the floor. This opening is backed by a screen of velvety-green foliage about thirty feet high, through which the sun’s rays scintillate from a wide opening above, so that the interior is illuminated chiefly by reflected light a few small holes in the top of the dome just admit enough to prevent the roof being altogether lost in the gloom. The angles of this polygon are fluted and columnar and radiate at the capital, branch meeting branch, so that the dome is like the many-arched roof of the nave of some Gothic cathedral, whilst the drippings from the limestone have wrought themselves into combinations of stalactites of endless variety of form, and have decked this edifice of nature with more elaborate and fantastic ornamentation than all the genius of Gothic art could devise.

There are no idols of man's construction, but the floor of this natural temple is strewn with curious and weird-like forms. There is one huge block of stone about fifteen feet square which might represent the altar of an ancient race of giants ; there are four or five upright stones like those of the Druids on Salisbury plains, three of which are placed symmetrically at the grotto-like opening, one at each side, and one in the middle, as if to guard the entrance : one could almost imagine they had been put there by design. 

I do not wonder that the superstitious Malays should have sought an explanation in the supernatural : according to them, this cave is the home of a great hantu and the violent wind which met us at the entrance was the breath of the angry spirit opposing our intrusion. The petrified man referred to by the boatmen is simply a block of stone covered with drippings from the limestone till its shoulders are smooth, but with no resemblance whatever to the human form divine ; the oven or furnace is like an oven, but it owes its form to the same cause; the slag and the loaves of bread are also the result of the same action, the slag consists, as one can see on breaking it, of small angular stones which have become rounded and cemented together by this process, and the mass really does resemble the refuse of a furnace, whilst the loaves are merely larger isolated stones covered in the same fashion. Far in the recesses of another cavern which branches off this, or rather a part of the same cavern, but to reach which one must ascend a smooth plateau which rises from the floor of the first, I found the flour and sugar secreted in one of nature’s cupboards. Between two round columns or stalactites, each topped with a crown of lotus leaves as symmetrical as if they had grown in the usual manner, was imbedded a vein of decomposed felspar, which the popular imagination had converted into household stores. 

I shall not proceed further with this description lest I should tire your patience, I have not told you one half of what interested me, and I myself did not see half of the mysterious underground passages with which this cavern is again undermined. I lost myself in one of those labyrinths into which I had ventured alone, and wandered about hopelessly for some time ; at one turn I came to a spot where four or five galleries met, and away in the distance at the far end of one of them I saw a light glimmering like a star from its other entrance. I thought of the story of “Sinbad the Sailor” and got lost in a reverie, when I was rudely awakened from my dream by the shouts of some of the party who had come in search of me. I tried to take a sketch of the main cavern, craning my neck to get a proper view of its roof, but I gave it up in despair. The breadth of this polygon from side to side each way was ninety-three paces, and I should guess the height at about one hundred and fifty feet I am sure a couple of days would not exhaust all the branches and subterraneous passages of this wonderful cave, but my time was limited, and I was reluctantly compelled to return. 

It would not do, however, to pass away from these caves without reciting the legend of Kôta Glanggi, as narrated to the company by one of the oldest men at the kampong, as we rested ourselves after our labours on a rock at the foot of Kôta Pâpan, In olden times there was a Râja GLANGGI who had a beautiful daughter, whom the son of Râja MEMBANG of Lĕpis had fallen desperately in love with. This son of MEMBANG got his father to open negociations with Râja GLANGGI for the hand of his daughter. Râja GLANGGI was willing enough and consented, but the person of the son of MEMBANG was distasteful to the daughter. In the meantime the son of Râja USUL of Bĕrâ was out hunting one day in the neighbourhood of Kôta Glanggi and accidentally got sight of the intended bride ; straightway his breast was fired with passion, and he with his attendants loitered about the neighbouring forest for days until he could see her again. Fortune favoured him, and being one of your bold wooers, he seized and carried her off by force. The young lady took kindly to her captor, aud was eventually carried off by him to his father's court, after some unavailing efforts to gain Râja GLANGGI’s consent to their union. Here they lived happily for a short time, until the rival lover, hearing of the abduction, got his father to appeal to Râja GLANGGI to have the girl restored, and as neither the daughter herself nor her bold winner would consent, a war ensued between Râja USUL of Bĕrâ and Râja GLANGGI, because Râja USUL, like a sensible man, said that if the girl liked his son they were now married, and he did not see why he should go against his son for the sake of Râja MEMBANG. The result was that seven of GLANGGI's best men got killed, and as be was not very warm on the subject of the abduction, seeing his daughter was pleased he resolved to get out of the embroilment as creditably as he could ; accordingly, he wrote a letter to Râja MEMBANG of Lĕpis representing that it really was his affair and recommending him to go to war with Râja {USUL of} BĔR on his own account, and this, poor old MEMBANG did and was killed, whilst GLANGGI and USUL of Bĕrâ became reconciled, and the bride and bridegroom lived happily ever afterwards, I give you the story as it was told to me, without any attempt at improvement, and just as I took it down in my note-book.

HULU RAUB, Interior of Pahang, 26th July, 1882. ::-