chap, in.] ASCENT OF MOUNT OPHIB. 47 



thus acquired the singular habit of stretching themselves 

 out at the sound of a footstep or of rustling foliage. Early 

 in the afternoon we reached the foot of the mountain, and 

 encamped by the side of a fine stream, whose rocky banks 

 were overgrown with ferns. Our oldest Malay had been 

 accustomed to shoot birds in this neighbourhood for the 

 Malacca dealers, and had been to the top of the mountain, 

 and while we amused ourselves shooting and insect hunt- 

 ing, he went with two others to clear the path for our 

 ascent the next day. 



Early next morning we started after breakfast, carrying 

 blankets and provisions, as we intended to sleep upon the 

 mountain. After passing a little tangled jungle and 

 swampy thickets through which our men had cleared a 

 path, we emerged into a fine lofty forest pretty clear of 

 undergrowth, and in which we could walk freely. We 

 ascended steadily up a moderate slope for several miles, 

 having a deep ravine on our left. We then had a level 

 plateau or shoulder to cross, after which the ascent was 

 steeper and the forest denser till we came out upon the 

 " Padang-batu," or stone field, a place of which we had 

 heard much, but could never get any one to describe intel- 

 ligibly. We found it to be a steep slope of even rock, ex- 

 tending along the mountain side farther than we could see. 

 Parts of it were quite bare, but where it was cracked and 

 fissured there grew a most luxuriant vegetation, among 



