ch. xin.] Mountain Climbing. 273 



effect on him ; for after reflecting on it several minutes, 

 he arose and prepared to start, saying with charming 

 naivete, that " I was a good man, and that he liked me." 

 About seven o'clock " Boloung " and five or six of his 

 followers rejoined us, as they had promised, and we set 

 off on our way up the spur. 



Our path at first lay up the bed of the torrent, but we 

 left this in a few minutes, bearing up the spur to the 

 right, past a bamboo fence in which rat-traps were placed 

 at intervals of a few feet. Here and there, too, we 

 noticed the dangerous spring pig- spearing apparatus, so 

 commonly met with in the forests of the • Murut and 

 Kayan tribes who live further south. The deposit of 

 forest debris at the base of this south spur is very rich in 

 ferns and herbaceous plants. A melastomad here and 

 there bore clusters of pretty pink flowers. Of this plant, 

 which grew in the moss beside the path, there are green 

 and purple-leaved varieties. A glossy-leaved ardisia, 

 having clusters of red berries, the foliage being claret- 

 coloured beneath, was conspicuous ; and the stems of a 

 shrub four feet high were covered with clusters of ver- 

 milion-tinted berries the size of small peas ; another 

 shrub, a yard high, having lance-shaped serrate leaves, 

 bore clusters of pure white, gesnera-like flowers. As we 

 climbed higher up the mountain side, rhododendra, 

 bearing white, scarlet, yellow, or magenta-coloured blos- 

 soms, began to appear, and epiphytal and terrestrial 

 orchids also became more plentiful. The curious pitcher- 

 plants also increased in profusion, some being of a 

 wondrous size and of the most singular form, colour and 

 texture. At one place in a secluded mossy nook, where 

 Mr. Veitch and I had obtained plants during our last 

 ascent, I found that some cuttings Ave had accidentally left 

 on the ground had thrown out numerous fresh roots into 



