DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



Hugh Low, Esq., Colonial Secretary at Borneo, 

 who has hcen the first to ascend the loftiest 

 mountain of that island. The position of Kini- 

 Balu is atthcN.E. extremity of Borneo, in about 

 (j° north lat., where it forms a most con.spicu- 

 ous feature from the ocean to the east, north, 

 and south. It has hitherto erroneously been 

 presumed to be volcanic, from its peculiarly 

 steep summit, and the rugged crater-like ridges 

 it presents on various sides, and probably as 

 much from analogy, the lofty explored peaks 

 of Java being invariably so. The discovery of 

 its granitic structure is on this account the more 

 interesting. To the botanist, Kini-Balu seems 

 to afford a rival in Rliododendrons to the Hima- 

 laya, and in Pitcher plants to any known coun- 

 try. In the same communication, Mr. Low 

 informs us that he intends agaiu ascending the 

 mountain, and, if possible, reaching a higher 

 elevation. We wish this adventurons and in- 

 telligent explorer every success. Nothing is 

 said of the difficulties and dangers that must 

 have attended his journey from the coast to the 

 foot of the mountain; they were doubtless many 

 and severe, and we wait with anxiety for fur- 

 ther particulars, which shall be laid at once be- 

 fore our readers. " Labuan, April 23, 185L 

 As, when I had the pleasure of meeting you in 

 England, you expressed a wish to know some- 

 thing of the mountain Kini-Balu, I have now 

 the pleasure to inform you, that I have sent to 

 Colonel Butterworth, the Governor of the 

 Straits, a small collection of plants made there 

 by myself, on a visit I paid to the mountain 

 last month, of which I beg your acceptance. I 

 enclose in the same parcel two or three small 

 pieces of the rocks from different parts of the 

 hill, by which you will perceive that the moun- 

 tain is granitic, and not volcanic, as has been 

 generally supposed. The view of the hill by 

 which it is best known gives it a conical form ; 

 but that, I am inclined to think, is from its 

 having been principally observed from the west- 

 ward, where the end only of the mountain is 

 seen. I imagined I had gained the top of the 

 south-west end, but such could not have been 

 the case, as the height of the point I gained is 

 by barometer only 851G; whereas the top, by 

 triangulation had been found to be 13,500 

 feet. 

 [Captain Sir E . Belcher, who visited this locali- 



ty in the Samarang, in 1844, and published, in 

 his ' Narrative' of that voyage, an admirable 

 view of the mountain, drawn on the spot, by 

 Lieut. Browne, estimated its height, from ob- 

 .servations made at Labuan, Ambong, Tampas- 

 sook, Mantanani, and other places in the vicini- 

 ty, to be 13,698 feet. Its summit was enveloped 

 with mist, and from the difficulties which its 

 outline and surrounding scenery presented. 

 Captain Belcher did not attempt the ascent.] 

 The highest parts are bare granite, and the ridge 

 verynarrow.the side to the northward being sheer 

 precipice. Two or three Orchids were growing 

 on the rock at the extreme point I gained, when 

 the thermometer stood at 52'' at noon of a fine 

 day. [By this observation, the elevation reach- 

 ed by Mr. Low might have been assumed as be- 

 tween 8000 and 9000 feet.] The whole of the 

 ascent is exceedingly steep, but with no places 

 with any great difficulty to surmount, as far as 

 I went. I remained two or three nights at an 

 elevation of about 8000 feet, encamped under 

 an overhanging rock, with a pretty considerable 

 torrent rushing past it; the ravine of which 

 was densely clothed with vegetation, including 

 a fine yellow Ehododendron, forming a large 

 shrub or small tree. In the same ravine grew 

 also a Phyllocladus, a small leaved Dacrydium, 

 and another curious Rhododendron, like a 

 Heath. 



One of the most remarkable plants was a new 

 Dacrydium, which looked so much like a Spruce 

 Fir, that I, at fir.st, thought it must really be a 

 cone-bearing plant. Of four species of Pitcher 

 plant, one was of a very curious, and to me of 

 quite a new form, and so large as to contain as 

 much water as I could drink at a draught when 

 thirsty, probably a pint; it was a strong groAV- 

 ing species, and after a rather long search I 

 found it in flower; but all my specimens of it, 

 together with many others, were thrown away 

 by my lazy followers, during the descent, which 

 we found very severe, aggravated as it was by 

 being made in very heavy rain. This Pitcher 

 plant was not found high on the hill, not more 

 than from 2000 to 4000 feet. In all, I saw thir- 

 teen species of Rhododendron, in a distance of 

 about three miles ; some of those on the lower 

 parts of the mountain epiphytal, and all that 

 were in flower exceedingly beautiful." — Litera- 

 ry Gazettb. 



