An important fact
connected with these caverns is that they contain thousands of tons of
bats' manure, which may be as valuable as guano to future planters.
Between the heavy clays and blue mud of the mangrove swamps and the
granite and sandstone of the mountain ranges, the undulating rises are
mainly composed of red clay, sandstones, shales, and granitic and
feldspathic rocks, with extensive deposits of laterite in red clays on
the surface. In the valleys along the rivers the soil consists of rich
alluvial deposits.
Undoubtedly Selangor has great capabilities, and if the difficulties of
the labor question can be satisfactorily disposed of, it is likely that
the new offer of leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject
to improvement clauses, will attract a number of planters to its
fertile soil and wholesome climate. Selangor includes three large
districts, each on a considerable river of its own - Selangor, Klang,
and Langat.
The Sultan was actually, as he is now nominally, supreme, but the story
of disturbances under this government is a very old one, internal
strife having been the normal condition of the State ever since
Europeans have been acquainted with it. It seems to have been an
undoubted fact that its rivers and island channels were the resort of
pirates, and that its Rajahs devoted themselves with much success to
harrying small vessels trading in the Straits of Malacca.
