Cari Rezeki, Numpang, Siap:

Undi the late nineteenth century, scientists had thought that peat could be found only in cold latitudes.The dis overy of peat in the tropics, therefore, came asasurprise.Unlike temperate peat, which has grass vegetation, tropical peat bears huge forests, sometimes exceeding 50 m in height.Such forest has a distinct physiognomy and is called Peat Swamp Forest (PSF).PSF is found not everywhere in the tropics, but ahnost exclusively in Insular Southeast Asia wwitmore 1975].And one of the centers of PSF distribution is in Riau, where it occupies an area of 4,500,OOO ha, amounting to nearly half of the tota1 area of Riau (9,460,OOO ha).Riau is usualy divided into two parts, Kepulauan(Islands) and Daratan(Inland) ; but when the ecological setting is taken into account, PSF constitutes a third component, which is the largest in extent, This vast area of PSF in ruau was for a long time uninhabited, unexploited and unut-zed.No trace of human activities was found there.Orang Suku Laut and Malays lived in the vicinity of the PSF, but they never lived inside the PSF nor utilized it.Schot traveled up the Kateman river in the late nineteenth century and counted 1,865 Malays, 91 Chinese and 29 fatnilies of Orang Laut along a stretch of about 50 km in length [Schot 1884].Those were mainly engaged in sago cultivation and fishery at the riverside and seldom utilized the PSF.