viii] ASCENT OF MOUNT POE 



In the wilder tracts Eugcissonia minor abounded — a palm of the 

 same genus as that I had found on the summit of Mattang, but 

 much smaller, with a short stem raised from the ground, pandanus- 

 fashion, by a great number of slender roots, about three feet in length 

 and not thicker than the finger. These, roots are largely exported 

 to Europe, where they are known as " rajah-canes," and are used 

 for making umbrella handles and walking sticks. 



After a long and fatiguing tramp we came to a temporary hut 

 or shed of the Sadomak Dyaks on the banks of the Burangan torrent, 

 and here we thought it best to camp for the night, although several 

 hours of daylight still remained. 



Next morning we began to ascend the mountain, and found it 

 an easy task, for the gradients are slight. We walked on a layer 

 of fallen leaves in a forest of big trees with very scanty undergrowth. 

 Few of the trees were in blossom, but on examining the leaves I 

 detected the presence of several Dipterocarpece, and of at least 

 five or six species of oak. 



We noted not a few spots where the slopes were slight and 

 the thick stratum of vegetable earth was very well adapted for 

 plantations ; but, strangely enough, there was no water on the 

 mountain side. The rain has hardly fallen ere it is absorbed, 

 disappearing between the masses of granite, of which the bulk 

 of the mountain is composed, without forming anything like a 

 brook or stream. 



After a climb of several hours we reached an elevation of about 

 4,300 ft., and camped in a kind of grotto between two huge blocks 

 of granite, which met above our heads and formed a good natural 

 shelter from the rain. The forest here is truly beautiful, but the 

 trees do not appear particularly varied. Over a considerable area 

 the ground is nearly level, and forms small valleys dotted with blocks 

 of granite, hidden under a soft green mantle of mosses. The 

 forest has thus a very different aspect from that of the plain, 

 and to this the presence of conifers, so rare in Borneo, contributes 

 in no small degree. Amongst the latter the most important is 

 Phyllocladus hypophylla, which Sir Joseph Hooker has described 

 from specimens collected by Low on the great mountain Kina 

 Balu. This plant represents an exotic element in the flora of 

 Borneo, for the only other two known species of the genus are found, 

 one in Tasmania and the other in New Zealand. Moreover, the 

 frequence on the upper slopes of Mount Poe of two or three species 

 of Podocarpus and of a Dammara or Agathis {A Beccarii, Warb.), 

 give a botanist the impression of being in an austral forest. From 

 the trunk and branches of the above-mentioned Dammara exudes a 

 resin, which collects at the foot of the tree, and forms stone-like 

 masses. One of these, now in the Botanical Museum at Florence, 

 is as big as a man's head and weighs eleven pounds. This resin is 



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