﻿THE ASCENT OF MOUNT HALCON. 201 



other plants characteristic of the more temperate regions made their ap- 

 pearance, and the pitcher plant (Nephenthes), becomes common, climbing 

 through the thickets. The vegetation again gradually changes above 4,000 

 feet, the trees and shrubs become more stunted and dwarfed, epiphytes 

 increase in abundance, peat moss appears in the ground cover and many of 

 the constituent species of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, epiphytes, etc., 

 are again quite different from the ones at 4,000 feet. On gaining the 

 high, main ridge, at 7,800 feet, there is a most radical change; the mon- 

 tane brush has become reduced to a mere heath over considerable areas, 

 the ground having a thin cover of grasses with scattered, stunted bushes 

 and shrubs, a curious mixture of north-temperate and Australian types. 

 These heath lands disappear along the ridge towards the high peak and the 

 montane brush is again in evidence, but more stunted and much more 

 dense than on the lower ridges ; epiphytic orchids and ferns become reduced 

 to few species and there is a corresponding increase in the abundance 

 .and density of the mosses and lichens which everywhere cover the ground 

 and trunks of the brush. Small branches, even no larger than the ringer, 

 appear to be inches or more in thickness owing to their dense covering 

 of yellow and green moss. These upper thickets represent the densest 

 vegetation I have ever observed in the Philippines. It was almost impos- 

 sible to penetrate it even with a liberal use of the bolo. 



CONCLUSION. 



The origin of most of the mountains in the Philippines is due to volcanic- 

 activity, but Halcon is radically distinct from the others in structure. It 

 is a mass of granite, white quartz, schist and marble. Iron pyrites was 

 observed in some localities, while gold in small amounts is found in the 

 sands of the streams flowing from it. Slate was observed by Mr. Mc- 

 Caskey a short distance north of the main range. In general structure, 

 so far as can lie determined from descriptions to be obtained, Halcon 

 seems geologically to be the same as Mount Kinabalu. British Xorth 

 Borneo, the highest peak in the Malayan region. 



Halcon Range is a fold, the main ridge running in a generally east 

 and west direction, irregular in profile, but continuous for a long distance 

 at high altitudes. So far as could be determined, three great ridges 

 radiate from the main range, one to the west, one to the south and one 

 to the east, while to the north especially, the slopes are very precipitous 

 and show several subsidiary spurs. 



Mindoro itself is anomalous in some respects as compared with other 

 islands of the Philippine group, but later when more definite knowl- 

 edge is secured regarding it and its neighbors, it may be shown that it is 

 really the oldest part of the Archipelago proper. The one large mammal 

 found in the Philippines, Bubahis mindorcnsis. said to be most closely 

 related to a Celebes form, is confined to the Island of Mindoro ; certain 



