Here also were two of the most distinct of all rhododendrons,
R. ericifolium and R. stenophyllum. On open
spaces among rocks and sedges, the giant Nepenthes
Rajah began to appear, the plants being of all sizes, and
in the most luxuriant health and beauty. The soil in
which they grew was a stiff yellow loam, surfaced with
sandstone-grit, and around the larger plants a good deal
of rich humus and leaf debris had collected. The long
red-pitchered N. Edwardsiana was seen in two places.
This plant, like N. Lowii, is epiphytal in its perfect state,
and is of a slender rambling habit. Highest of all in
the great nepenthes zone came N. villosa, a beautiful
plant, having rounded pitchers of the softest pink colour,
with a crimson frilled orifice, similar to that of N. Edwardsiana.
All thoughts of fatigue and discomfort
vanished as we gazed on these living wonders of the
Bomean Andes ! Here, on this cloud-girt mountain
side, were vegetable treasures which Imperial Kew had
longed for in vain. Discovered by Mr. Low in 1851,
dried specimens had been transmitted by him to Europe,
and Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker had described and
illustrated them in the Transactions of the Linnæan
Society, hut all attempts to introduce them alive into
European gardens had failed. To see these plants in all
.their health and vigour was a sensation I shall never
forget—one of those which we experience hut rarely in a
whole lifetime !
We reached the cave (altitude 9,000 feet) about three
o’clock, wet and hungry, hut far from unhappy. Our
first care was to light a fire, which was not at all easy to
do, since everything was dripping wet. We secured a
bit of dry wood at last, however, and by whittling thin
shavings from it with a knife, we managed to start a
good fire, and some of the men were directed to cut firewood;
hut so paralysed were they by the wet and cold,
that it was with the greatest difficulty that we could
persuade them to do this. Poor old “ Musa ” cut some
wood and made a floor to the cave, after which some
brushwood and leaves formed a substitute for a mattress.
The next difficulty was to obtain water, since the men
we had sent to search for it returned empty handed,
having failed to find any. As a last resort I had to
undertake this duty myself, and, descending the hill-side,
I found a tiny pool in a gully, from which I procured a
little in our cook-pots. It was not near enough, however
; and in wandering in search of more, I came upon
a patch of the large nepenthes, from the old pitchers of
which I was able to augment my supply by carefully
pouring off the rain water from a rather liberal under
stratum of flies, ants, and other insect debris. Our
guides slept under a rock a little further on and higher
up the mountain side, and they found a stream from
which good water was procured by our men in the morning
and during our stay here.
It commenced to rain heavily at nightfall, and we
found it very cold, although we kept a good fire burning
nearly all night, one of the results being that we were
nearly blinded by the smoke, there being a draught
towards an opening at the hinder part of the cave. The
wet dripped from the roof all night, and the walls were
also wet and slimy; indeed our quarters were neither
extensive nor luxurious ; still we made the best of them,
and, after all, were rather sorry to leave them at last. We
arose at daybreak to collect plants and roots, in the
which we were tolerably successful; and before night we
had secured all our collections in baskets and bundles
ready for the men to carry down. It was very cool and
misty in the morning, but about noon it became clearer,