Perak River

Perak River is the second longest river in Peninsular Malaysia after Pahang River in Pahang, Malaysia. A number of towns are on the banks of the river including the royal town of Kuala Kangsar. Most of the settlements in what is today Perak were situated near the river until the 19th century, when tin deposits were discovered elsewhere, most notably Ipoh.

The source of Sungei Perak is in the mountainous Perak-Kelantan-Thailand border of the Belum Forest Reserve. Some of the branches of the river are the River Bidor and the Kinta River. The Temenggor Dam has created a large man-made lake at Banding near Grik.

Literature

The Perak is mentioned in Rudyard Kipling's fantastic story The Crab That Played with the Sea (published as one of the Just So Stories). There, the man complains to his creator, the eldest magician, about the tides running into and out from the Perak: "Once a day and once a night the Sea runs up the Perak river and drives the sweet-water back into the forest, so that my house is made wet; once a day and once a night it runs down the river and draws all the water after it, so that there is nothing left but mud, and my canoe is upset."