mg, much to the disgust of our Dusun guides, who
pointed to the dark clouds and told us we should have
rain, and much wished us to push onwards. Lower
down still we came across plants of the beautiful Nepenthes
Edwardsiana, scrambling up bushes and casuarina
trees to a height of twenty or thirty feet. Both this
species, and also the curious N. Loioii, are frequently
perfectly epiphytal, all the old stems and roots originally
in the ground being dead, but the top growth has rooted
into the wet moss and debris which rests on the trees and
bushes everywhere around. Of the first-named there are
two distinct varieties, differing in the length and form of
their pitchers. N. Lowii is first seen at about 5,000
feet, and is one of the most singular of the whole group,
its urns being flagon-shaped, and of a hard leather-like
consistence. Growing quite plentifully beside the path
were tiny plants bearing tripetalous flowers of a white or
pink tint, and very pretty. In some places it was quite
bushy in habit and a foot in height, being literally covered
with blossoms. Some large mosses, one of them having
stems a foot in height, were also gathered, and a few
inconspicuous orchids, epiphytal and otherwise, were
observed in bloom. A plumose filmy fern (Trichomanes,
sp. ?) depended here and there from the half rotten casuarina
branches overhead.
Owing to the rain yesterday our descent was far from
pleasant, and falls were not infrequent, in fact on both
occasions I have found descending this mountain very
troublesome and dangerous owing to the wretched paths
one has to follow. I carried a sago sheath basket behind
me, fitted with bark straps for the shoulders, and it
was lucky I did so, for I had one or two nasty falls
backward, and it saved my head more than once from
contact with the slippery stones. Our guides have at
last gone on a-head quite disgusted at my stopping here
and there to take up a plant or gather seeds, which I
can never resist doing. My boots had given way like
brown paper owing to their being constantly wet, and
I had to tie them on my feet with strips of bark. My
feet had chafed where scalded, and were now very painful,
while the constant strain on the legs during the
slippery descent was very exhausting. However after
many falls backwards and forwards we reached Kiau
about four o’clock p.m. thoroughly tired and hungry. I
felt thankful when I regained the hill above the village
where all the hard work is over. I had tired out the
patience first of our guides, then of my Labuan men,
and even Smith had at last left me lingering collecting
roots and specimens, and so I was the last man of
our party to reach the village. As I descended the hill
three of my men met me and took my load of plants, for
I had both arms full besides the basket at my back.
Tired and wet as I was I could not resist the impulse to
look at the plants my men had brought down two days
before, and I was glad to find that they were fresh and
healthy. A mist swept around us soon after I got inside
the house, and the steady rain we had experienced all the
afternoon changed to a regular downpour. I was glad
to put on my dry clothes after a thorough good wash and
rub down with a towel warmed at the fire. I found that
the skin was off my feet in great patches, and they swelled
very much after removing my boots. Smith had a large
sore on his heel, and he agreed with me that our ascent
was child’s play compared with the descent.
My “ boy ” had cooked us some rice and had bought us
some fine ripe tarippe fruit to eat with it. We afterwards
had a cup of nice warm chocolate each, and lighting our
cigarettes, our fatigue and bruised shins were soon for