of about 4,000 feet, having an under stratum of sticks
and brushwood to keep our water-proof sheets off the
wet ground. The air, even at this low elevation, was
chilly during the night, and we found a fire and blankets
acceptable comforts. Melastoma macrocarpa, bearing
its large, rosy flowers, formed a large proportion of
the brush around our camping ground. Here the large
nepenthes were very fine; and a beautiful white flowered
dendrobium grows among the bushes. It belongs to the
nigro hirsute section, and has pseudo-bulbs five or six
feet high. The blossoms are described by Mr. Low as
being similar to those of D. formosum giganteum, but
with a deep orange red blotch on the lip.
Just above our camping ground, the long, red,
pitchered Nepenthes Edivardsiana was very beautiful,
growing up through the low jungle, its pitchers contrasting
with the tufts of rich green moss which draped
trunks and branches everywhere. N. Rajah was also
abundant; and we noticed some immense urns depending
from its great broad leaves, far finer, indeed, than
those found at 9,000 feet elevation, on the more southern
spur. That distinct and curious fern, Lindsay a Jame-
sonioides, grew here and there in the chinks of the serpentine
rock, and a long-leaved insect-catching sundew
(Drosera) was common in most places among th e . stones
and herbage.
After collecting what plants we desired, we had breakfast,
and then commenced our return. We reached Kiau
in about five hours, but some of our men did not come
in until long after our arrival, as they had heavy loads to
carry, and the clay paths were very slippery. At Kiau
village, and on the slopes of the mountain itself, we
spent eight days, and then came the weary march back
to Gaya Bay, which, however, we accomplished in six
days. When we reached the Datu’s village, he gave us
a fine goat, which our “ boys” promptly slew for
dinner, and, being young, it had a delicate mutton-like
flavour, and we thought it a great treat after our hard
fare.
A present of a revolver and some cartridges delighted
our host; and the next morning, having obtained another
boat, and loaded the one we had, we pulled to Pangeran
Pau’s place, where we hired a prahu, and two days afterwards
reached Labuan safely.
During our journey to and from the mountain, we
met occasional parties of natives from the far interior
on their trading excursions, the women, as a matter
of course, carrying the heaviest loads, while the men
carried nothing, save a little food in a bag behind them,
and their arms. Some had buffaloes with them. The
women, as a class, are strong and healthy, with small
hands and feet, and well-proportioned features—indeed,
in many cases, the young girls are very pleasing in face
and figure, and have lovely black hair, and the brightest
of expressive black eyes. Early marriages, childbearing,
hard labour, and exposure in the fields, however, soon
make shrivelled leather - skinned old hags of them.
Their drapery is nothing worth mentioning, and in such
a climate but little is required. Their manners are
gentle and dignified—often when we met them quite
suddenly they showed no surprise, even though they
had never seen a white man before. They make affectionate
wives, and tender mothers—indeed, I never saw
a child beaten or chided roughly during my stay in the
island.
In the capital and elsewhere on the coast, young
Malay women are almost invariably kept secluded from
the gaze of strangers ; but here among these hills inland,