rough and tiring one of sloping hillside paths very wet
and slippery, and in places blocked by fallen trees. About
one o’clock we reached a rushing stream, and our guides
brought us to a large overhanging rock, where they said
we must pass the night. It now began to rain heavily,
so we at once told the men to cut sticks and palm-leaves
to lay on the ground where we were to sleep, and over
which we could spread our waterproof sheets and rugs.
This was soon done, and meanwhile our “ hoys” prepared
luncheon. We were disgusted at stopping thus
early in the day, and wished our guides to proceed when
the rain abated, which however they determinedly refused
to do. To make the best of a had bargain, I and Mr.
Yeitch explored the forest above our camp, where we
found a pretty aroid with white blotched leaves, and
another marbled with silvery grey; also a variegated
plant resembling an ansectochilus, but which Professor
Ileichenbach tells me is the Cystorchis variegata of
Blume. This plant I had previously gathered in another
locality further south; indeed, it seems pretty generally
distributed along the north-west coast. Specimens of
two or three delicate filmy ferns were found near the
streams; and at our camping-place, which we named the
“ Sleeping Rock,” the pretty little Adiantum diaphanum
was plentiful, and living plants were brought to England
from this habitat.
About seven o’clock next morning we started on our
upward journey. It was hot work at first, but we could
feel it perceptibly get cooler after the first two or three
thousand feet. At about four thousand feet mosses are
very plentiful, the finest species gathered being Dawsonia
superba, which fringed the path, but nowhere in great,
plenty. A new white-flowered species of burmannia was
iilso gathered, and small-flowered orchids were seen. In
one place a shower of small scarlet rhododendron flowers
covered the ground at our feet, the plant being epiphytal
in the trees overhead. It was very misty, and the moss
which covered every rotten stick, and the vegetation
generally, was dripping with moisture, and every sapling
we grasped in climbing upwards was the means of shaking
a shower-bath on us from the trees above. At about five
thousand feet a dead and broken pitcher of Nepenthes Loivi
lying in the path led to the discovery of the plant itself
scrambling among the mossy branches overhead, its
singular flagon-shaped ascidia hanging from the point of
every leaf. It is a vigorous-habited plant, with bright
green leathery leaves, the petioles of which clasp the
stem in a peculiar manner. The only plants we saw
were epiphytal on mossy trunks and branches, and we
searched for young plants diligently, but without success.
All the pitchers hitherto seen are cauline ones, and as
the plant has never yet been seen in a young state, it is
an open question as to whether the radical pitchers differ
in shape or size, as is the case with most other species.
As we ascended higher, epiphytal orchids, especially
erias, dendrochilia, and coelogynes became more plentiful,
and we came upon a large-flowered rhododendron, bearing
rich orange flowers two inches in diameter, and twenty
flowers in a cluster! It grew on a dangerous declivity,
and not one of our lazy men would venture to get it for
us. Such a prize, however, was too lovely to forego, and
after a wet scramble among the surrounding bushes, I
secured it in good condition. Two or three other species
were seen in flower, but none equal to it in its golden
beauty. Casuarina trees became common, and higher up
these were joined by two or three species of gleichenias,
and a distinct form of dipteris. Phyllocladus also appeared,
and a glaucus-leaved dianella (D. javanica).
H 2