COLLECTING EXPEDITION TO BATANG PADANG. 139 
The Sakais made a large fire in the end of the cave opposite 
to that from which the wind came, and they and the Kling sat 
shivering and groaning round it all night and the rest of us had 
very little sleep, for besides the cold and wet, the /auzz floor 
was slanting and made of the most crooked, windblown and 
uncomfortable pieces of wood that could be well imagined. 
When it began to get hight on the morning of the roth the 
wind and mist were still drifting through the cave, everything 
inside it was glistening with dew-like drops of water, and the 
rain was still falling outside. Then that most trying of all 
trying jungle operations had to be gone through—that is, get- 
ting out of bed and into one’s cold sopping wet clothes of the 
day before. 
At about 8 A. M. we again went to the summit and-stayed 
there about an hour and-a-half, but instead of clearing, the fog 
got thicker and the rain heavier and so we returned to the cave 
and packed up the plants and the other things and then as the 
rice was all finished proceeded down the hill to the camp, the 
_ rain continuing heavily the whole way. 
The summit, looked at from Tapa, gives the impression that 
it is rounded in outline and of considerable area, but in reality 
it is a sharp, thin ridge running ina N. N. E. & S.S. Wester- 
ly direction and if viewed from either of these directions it 
would probably present a pointed, conical appearance. 
The following temperatures were taken at the cave :—12.30 
Pepi 3-15)P2 M57 0 P-M.50°, 7 A.M. 55°, 9.30 A. M. 50”. 
I am sorry [had no minimum thermometer with me, as it 
must have gone down in the night several degrees lower than 
the reading here recorded. I should think that on the grass 
on the summit, during clear, calm, starlight nights, the freezing 
point must sometimes be reached. 
On our arrival at the camp we found letters containing the 
sad news of Mr. Ev ANS’ death from cholera at Tapa on the 7th 
and in consequence Mr. C. WraAy, who had joined me at Kuala 
Woh on the 6th and made the ascent of Batu Puteh in the 
hopes of getting a view, went straight on down the hill to the 
camp on the Woh. Mr. Evans arrived in Tapa on the day I[ 
left, and I saw him for a few minutes at the Rest House. Al- 
most all those who have been engaged in the work I have been 
