104 A TRIP TO G-T7N0NG BLUMTJT. 



we determined to camp here for the night, and so we soon 

 had a hnt put np on the very brink of the torrent. Mean- 

 while we had a delicious bath, after which we wandered up 

 the stream and collected two or three uncommon ferns, one a 

 very small ribbon like plant - adhering to the rock by a thin 

 film of root and soil, another was a foot high or so, with a 

 delicate straight black stem, and a radiating crown of fine 

 tapering leaves, also growing on the rock in the stream from 

 a horizontally growing root. The bed of the torrent here is 

 broken np granite, consisting mainly of quartz, with a little 

 mica; the boulders differ somewhat in quality, some being 

 rather sycintic, others more porphyritic in appearance ; good 

 large blocks of solid quartz were also found in the bed of 

 the stream, some of them shewing the regular prisms of 

 quartzy crystals. The soil on both banks was in some parts 

 sand3 r , in others clayey, in others of a somewhat coarser tex- 

 ture occasionally shewing a lateritic tendency which gave it 

 a gravelly appearance, but this was more noticeable further 

 up the country. 



JSText morning we continued our journey about 8 a. m., 

 leaving two of our party behind, one of them to look after 

 the man who had succumbed to fever the previous day. I 

 gave the invalid a dose of quinine before starting, and left 

 another for him to take if needed. The man who had bro- 

 ken down the first day hud quite recovered. After two or 

 three hours' work in ascending and descending a series of 

 hills with sandy and rocky streams between them, we had.a 

 steep climb up a slippery hill of rather superior looking soil, 

 and after p-oin^ alono- a narrow rid^e at the top we came to 

 a dip; here we were brought to a halt, and were to id 

 that this was the old boundary line between Paliang and 

 Johor, but that now it ran further North. Our path soon 

 after descended and we very shortly had another steep 

 climb up to a similar narrow ridge and in coming up with 

 the leader were told they had just seen a tiger, or, as they 

 more respectfully put it, a Dato, about 20 yards to their 

 right who on seeing them made away down the slope ; they 

 now refused to go any further till the whole party had collected; 

 I was particularly struck with the blanched faces of our boys 



at the mention of the Dato having been so near (, ,U.^ 



e^^i JV <-£« )' After this we were not long in coming to 

 another halt for a more satisfactory purpose ; we had reached 

 a large square block of stone which projected from the side 

 of the hill, and whence we had a fine view of Bechuak and 



