INTRODUCTION. 19 



isolated mass of rock about 30 meter high , which reminds 

 one of an old weather-worn , gray watch-tower, and both 

 it and the rock-hump on the plateau of Mount Tiloeng 

 are visible from a great distance in the surrounding country, 

 even as far distant as Mount Kenepai on the northern 

 edge of the Kapoeas plain. 



These and similar masses of rock visible from our plateau 

 are so many proofs that the immense lava-plateau must at 

 one time have been much higher than it is now, and in 

 the course of time must have undergone a uniform hori- 

 zontal abrasion. The real Mount Liang Koeboeng, still 

 farther to the south, is only 1322 meter high, the height 

 given in Resident Tromp's manuscript-chart, viz. 1825 

 meter, is therefore a clerical error, an error which proved 

 of serious consequence for me, with regard to the inte- 

 resting mountain-fauna which I had expected on such an 

 elevation. 



Towards midday the fog cleared for about half an hour 

 and for a moment we had a magnificent view of the wide 

 Mandai valley and even over the Kapoeas plain to the 

 mountains which presumably form the watershed between 

 the Kapoeas and the Mahakkam which flows toward the 

 East coast. Unfortunately the view and the warm sunshine 

 were but of short duration , for soon clouds of thick mist 

 rising out of the valley rolled round and over the plateau , 

 and in a moment it was raining in torrents, so that we 

 had to start on our descent to the grotto wet to the skin. 

 We were not much more fortunate on later visits to this 

 region of fog , and the plateau where , on account of its 

 peculiar flora, I had expected to find another fauna, pro- 

 vided me with but very few zoological objects of special 

 interest. 



My stay in the grotto , which was a model of a well- 

 appointed hunting station, lasted from March 10*^. to the 

 beginning of May. Hunting in the mountain forests was, 

 although exceedingly fatiguing, very productive. The col- 

 lections were enriched daily by specimens not previously 



Notes from thie Leyden Museum, Vol. XIX. 



