84 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. 



and but for the shade of the overhanging bamboo, 

 which grows here plentifully, we should have fared 

 worse. 



On reaching the crest of the hill, an altitude of say 

 800 feet, we got along better. At this height we found 

 our first nepenthes, a pretty green-pitchered form, swollen 

 below, and having a broad, flattened red rim to its mouth 

 (N. Phyllamphora) . We rested an hour on the top, but 

 could procure no water, excepting a few drops from 

 the cut end of a climbing plant, which the natives call 

 "kalobit," and of which they sometimes form rough 

 cordage, b}^ rending it into long strips. The juice of 

 this plant is intensely bitter ; but the water which dis- 

 tilled itself slowly from the cut end was quite pure and 

 tasteless. 



We ascended about 1500 feet to-day, and the views 

 from the summit of the range between Bawang and 

 Si Nilau were very satisfying, all the intervening country 

 to the sea being plainly visible, as well as the whole 

 coast-line, as far as Gaya Bay. We walked along quicker 

 than usual, for the sky became very black, and it was 

 evident that we should soon have a drenching shower. 

 Our guides had forgotten the way to Si Nilau, and so 

 there was nothing for it but to push on, in the hopes 

 of meeting with a shelter by the way. 



At length we suddenly came upon the site of a deserted 

 village, and took shelter in a hut a little better in repair 

 than the rest while from the trees near both langsat 

 fruit and cocoa-nuts were procurable. Here we waited 

 until the rain abated, when we took up our quarters in 

 the house of a Dusun man, near the site of the old 

 village, which had, as we afterwards heard, been deserted 

 on account of the death of the headman. 



We had previously met our Dusun landlord about two 



