IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



The climate of Labuan appears to be much drier than that of the 

 north-west portion of Borneo, and the vegetation is also less 

 luxuriant, partly, no doubt, because of the poor nature of the soil. 



The Colonial Surgeon showed me a specimen of Ptilocercus Lowii, 

 a singular creature only found in Borneo, which I had been vainly 

 trying to get. It is an arboreal insectivorous mammal allied to the 

 Tupaia, and about the size of the common squirrel ; its peculiarity 

 lies in its long tail, which is bare and scaly like that of a rat for about 

 the first half, but has the extremity thickly covered at the sides with 

 long hair, after the manner of the barbs of a feather. The doctor 

 evidently prized his rare specimen, and my praises and insinuations 

 only made him prize it the more. My object in paying him a visit 

 had been that mammal, and I left, alas ! feeling that I had merely 

 lost my time. Mr. Low assured me that the Ptilocercus is not rare 

 in Labuan, and that it has also been found in Sarawak ; but I was 

 unable to obtain a single specimen, although I repeatedly showed 

 a picture of it to natives, and offered a good reward to any one who 

 would bring me a specimen. 



The following morning we weighed anchor at daybreak, and 

 steamed towards the mouth of the Bruni river. The Bornean coast, 

 as seen from Labuan, is extremely picturesque. The transparency of 

 the atmosphere allowed us to have a distinct view of the grand outline 

 of Kina Balu, more than ioo miles away. This is not only the highest 

 mountain in Borneo, but the highest one on the Asiatic Islands. 1 

 I watched it with the greatest interest, for the time seemed drawing 

 near when I should tread its summit. This was the dream of my 

 youth, but it was never to be realized ! Yet the marvellous plants 

 which are to be found upon the mountain had, more than anything 

 else, induced me to visit Borneo. 



Mr. Low very nearly reached the summit of Kina Balu in 1850, 

 and he made a second ascent of the mountain in 185 1, accompanied 

 by Mr. St. John. On these occasions several wonderful forms of 

 Nepenthes were discovered, and one of them, afterwards named 



(which I had found in Ceylon on the summit of Pedrotallagalla at more than 

 8,000 feet), a Leucopogon, a charming Burmannia with violet flowers, a 

 Salomonia, a Utricularia, two species of Xyris, and various kinds of Juncus 

 and Scirpus ; species which would be thought peculiar to lacustrine regions, 

 but which here grew in dry soil, perhaps because sand easily absorbs and 

 retains moisture from the air. The same thing happens in the case of mosses 

 on mountains, where grow also certain marsh-loving delicate plants, which 

 in Borneo would not find favourable conditions in swampy places on account 

 of the prevalence and great development of plants of ranker growth. I was 

 also pleasantly surprised to find growing here on the sea beach a small fungillus, 

 Poronia CEdipus, a very singular species of Spheriacea, first described by 

 Montagne as coming from Martinique, and next found in Italy, near Vercelli, 

 by Baron Cesati, and later again by me in great abundance at the Cascine 

 of Pisa. 



1 Sir Edward Belcher has given its height as 13,698 feet. 



248 



