Kwala Lumpur is situated at the junction of the Klang river with one of its tributaries. The valley is occupied by the Chinese town, the railway station, the new Government offices, and the Esplanade, around which are grouped a few other Government buildings, while the European residents live chiefly on the hills to the west of the river. These hills are very numerous, and rise to a height of from one to two hundred feet. The European houses are almost invariably bungalows, with a pretty style of architecture peculiar to the Native States. The view from these hill tops is really sublime. The mountains stretching along the northern and eastern horizon and towering four or five thousand feet heavenward are a lovely sight, as they lie green and mottled under the midday sun, their appearance ever varying with the shifting cloud shadows or driving rain storms. Each hour in the day furnishes some fresh delight for the eye in these great reminders of the Maker of all things. The climate is much drier and more salubrious than that of Singapore, and the mornings and evenings are cooler if the day is hotter.

A journey of three hours to Kwala Kubu, the terminus of the railway, confirmed what we had heard, that a beautiful and fertile country extends far inland. The level of the country rises gradually, and at the same time presents a more and more attractive and interesting prospect. As we rolled along, tract after tract of newly cut jungle filled with charred stumps and prostrate trunks of trees alternated with plantations of dark green, healthy coffee trees. In every new plantation large nursery beds protected by a light flat roof of palm branches were crowded with tiny coffee trees in various stages of growth. Enterprise, push, and prosperity in embryo are written large on all these wide acres.

There are two important mining towns between Kwala Lumpur and the terminus, Serendah and Rawang, the former inhabited mainly by Hakka Chinamen and the latter by Hokkiens.

Kwala Kubu is so near the mountains that it lies in their cool morning shadow, and a clear mountain stream runs through the village. Here is the beginning of the important cart road which is now being pushed across the mountains into the very heart of Pahang. It is expected that the railway will follow in time, and that the rich State of Pahang, so inaccessible from the eastward on account of the heavy surf caused by the N.E. Monsoon, will thus be provided with an easy and unfailing line of communication with the outer world. Moreover it is proposed to construct a line of railway from Kwala Kubu to Ipoh, in order to connect the railway system of Selangor with that of Perak, so there is every prospect that Kwala Kubu will be a place of great importance in the future.

It will be understood from what has been said above that planting promises to be an important industry in Selangor, but at present the majority of the population get their living out of the tin mines, and, as is the case in mining districts all over the world, the moral condition of the people is terribly low. The Government officials seem to be quite persuaded that the Chinese immigrants should be provided with facilities for indulging in those vices to which they are most addicted, and consequently licensed gambling and opium shops are found everywhere, and until recently the houses of ill-fame bore the Government imprimatur. Murders, gang robberies, and other crimes of violence are prevalent throughout the State of Selangor. Those who sow the wind must reap the whirlwind.

The Malaysia Message
Vol. V  No. 7
April 1896