DR, O. STAPF ON THE FLORA OF MOUNT KINABALU. 79 
lasting to May, whilst the rest of the year divides between what is called a “ moderate 
wet" and a * moderate dry season.” The “true dry season” seems, however, to set in 
rather earlier, at the end of January or early in February, on the coast near Kinabalu; 
and February has the reputation of being the driest month even on Kinabalu itself. 
Yet, whilst the two main seasons are well marked on the coast and drought of considerable 
duration (as much as 22 days) is known during the dry season, when the open country 
occasionally assumes a parched appearance, the climate is very equable all the year round 
on Kinabalu. Even the driest month is here still very wet, and days on which no rain 
falls are very rare. Thus extreme humidity and equability are the most prominent features 
of the climate of Kinabalu. The daily periodicity of the hydrometeors (i. e. hydrometeoric 
phenomena) which is so characteristic for the high mountains of Java, and, in fact, more or 
less for all the high mountains within the Tropics, is very pronounced on Kinabalu. The 
nights and the mornings are generally clear, with the exception of the bottoms of the deep 
valleys, where mist collects in the early hours. At 9 or 10 o’clock clouds form on the 
mountain, which by midday obscure it entirely down to 5000 or 6000 feet. Then rain 
—sometimes also hail or sleet—falls almost incessantly till late in the evening, when the 
air clears again. There is, however, a remarkable difference in the extent of the belt of 
clouds or mist. In Java the clouds form generally between 5000 or 6000 and 8000 feet, 
leaving the summit more or less free and comparatively dry. This is not the case on 
Kinabalu, where this belt reaches up to between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, and where also 
the highest part of the mountain seems to receive an enormous amount of rain, the waters 
of which partly fall in cascades from the top ridge and partly rush as a foaming, roaring 
torrent past the Pakapaka cave (at an elevation of almost 10,500 feet). The annual 
amount of rainfall on the coast ranges from 100 to 157 inches, or from that of Singapore 
to not quite that of Buitenzorg; but on Kinabalu itself it must b» enormously increased. 
The monthly maxima of temperature on the coast range from 80°88 F. in February 
1885 to 92°65 in April of the same year, and the monthly m inima from 71°46 in 
December 1883 to 780 in April of the same year. 
Spencer St. John, who was twice on Kinabalu, in May and in July 1858, found that 
the thermometer at Kiau, on the south-west foot (at 3000 feet), never marked above 77° 
during the day, and varied from 66° to 69° during the night. On the Maripari spur at 
4700 feet, it marked in July 76° (mean) at midday, 60° at 6 A.M., and 56° (mean) at 6 P.M. 
At the Pakapaka cave (10,450 feet) he found the temperature ranging from 36”5 to 43° 
during three nights in May and 41”125 (mean) at night in July. On the summit at 
1 P.M., exposed to mist and rain, the thermometer marked 52. Whitehead made daily 
observations at Temburungo, on the southern main range (7750 feet), from the 1st of 
February to the 3rd of March. He found the temperature very uniform, the nights 
varying between 42 and 52°, the days between 60° and 70. There are various other. . 
readings of the thermometer made occasionally by travellers, and in different months, all 
of which come within the range indicated by the figures quoted. WhenSt. John observed 
the thermometer fall to 36° all bushes and trees were “fringed with hoarfrost.” This 
makes it probable that even frosts occur occasionally on the top of the mountain; snow, 
however, has never been seen on Kinabalu. 
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