reached the summit, and we luckily were rewarded by a
most beautiful view. The atmosphere was clear, and in
all directions a vast billowy sea of jungle stretched below
us—foam-like flecks of white cloud being visible here and
there on thé top of the low coast hills.
We found the little hut on the summit rather out of
repair, but a little labour in strengthening the principal
supports of the roof, and the addition of a little palm-leaf
thatch, made it more comfortable. We enjoyed a magnificent
sunset, and lit our lamps just at dusk, nor were we
loath to make a hearty meal of warm soup, rice and tea,
which had been prepared while we looked around our
camping ground. After a smoke and a chat we wrapped
our rugs around us and were soon asleep on the side
benches of sticks covered with freshly-cut palm-leaves.
We were awoke during the night by the rain dripping
through the roof, but managed to keep ourselves dry by
suspending our waterproof sheets overhead. We awoke
at daybreak, but could see nothing but a mass of snow-
white clouds below us on all sides. After breakfast we
started on a collecting tour down the mountain side, and
soon struck a deep gully, through which a streamlet
washed over the water-worn stones and pebbles.
Here we found one or two very interesting aroids
(Schismatoglottis), and ferns were abundant, notably two
or three species of lindsayas, their bold fronds being
of a rich green colour, shot with steel-blue. Dipteris
Horsfieldii clothed the rocky declivities of the gorge here
and there, and a large-umed variety of Nepenthes ampul-
laria was strikingly luxuriant, growing along the edges
of wet mossy rocks. Tiny plants only three or four
inches in height and half buried in wet moss, decayed
leaves, and other forest débris, bore eight or ten pitchers
four inches in height and three inches in diaimeter. N.
Rafflesiana, an allied species, we saw clambering up the
thick undergrowth to a height of twenty or thirty feet,
but the pitchers were not larger than ordinarily are produced
by the plant when grown in our hothouses at home.
A large branching species of gleichenia grows luxuriantly
near the top of this mountain, and seems to replace
G. dichotoma, which is so common in Singapore and Pulo
Penang. Orchids were sparingly represented by a coelo-
gyne, and one or two other genera, but nothing of interest
was observable. A form of our own Pteris aquilina grew
luxuriantly around the hut where the forest had been
cleared. A dracaena, with green undulate foliage, almost
grassy in its tenuity, and the variegated Cissus porphyro-
phyllus were plentiful, and a red-veined echites covered
mossy trunks beside the stream.
We returned from our collecting about 5 o’clock, tired
and wet through—a very common thing indeed in a
tropical forest, so that we were glad to strip to the skin
and have a bath, followed by a rub dry with coarse towels,
and dry clothes. Our dinner of tinned soup and boiled
beef was very acceptable, and our cook made a very appetising
curry of dried fish and a few chilies collected from
bushes which grew in the clearing around our hut,
seeds having been sown either designedly or accidentally
by former visitors. A cup of tea and a cigar were deliciously
soothing after the rough falls and scrambling of
the day. We were disappointed with the place as a collecting
ground, and resolved to return to the richer forest
of the lower slopes near Kanka Ah Tong on the morrow.
Our guides gave us an account of this mountain, and
assured us that tigers were not uncommon, and that the
Chinamen were frequently carried off by them when
working in clearings near the forest. Wild pigs, monkeys,
and deer, are plentiful. The Argus and fire-back pheasant