106 A TRIP TO GTTNONG BLXTMUT. 



" two children of the first pair. When men had nmch in- 

 " creased, Pirn am looked down npon them with pleasure 

 " and reckoned their numbers, 



"They look npon the Gimong Lulumut group with 

 " a superstitious reverence, not only connecting it with the 

 " dawn of human life, but regarding it as possessed'of anima- 

 tion itself. Lulumut is the husband, Chimundong his old 

 " wife, and Bcchuak his young one. At first they lived to- 

 " gether in harmony, but one day Chimundong in a fit of 

 "jealousy cut off Bechuak's hair. The young wife retaliated 

 " by a kick applied with such force to Chimunclong's head 

 " that it was forced out of its position. Lulumut, seeing his 

 " mistake, stepped in with his huge body between them, and 

 " has ever since kept them separated." 



Some way further on we came to a tree where the path 

 bifurcated, on which we found the initials of Mr. Hill 

 and Che Yahya bearing date 18-1-79, and an arrow pointing 

 to the left as the path to be followed by the Blamut-bound 

 traveller; our predecessors had been taken along the right 

 hand path and ultimately found themselves on the top of 

 Bechuak whence a still higher mountain was visible, so they 

 retraced their steps and took the left-hand path down to 

 the gorge, through which runs a stream flowing down from 

 the dip between Blumiit and Bechuak. Here they put up 

 a hut and took up their quarters for the night, ascending to 

 the top of Blumut the f owing morning. We took the 

 left hand path, and found ourselves, after the descent of 

 an almost perpendicular steep of rich black soil, on the edge 

 of the stream just mentioned, with Mr. Hill's hut just fa- 

 cing us on the other side of it. This stream, which gurgles 

 down through rocks clothed with ferns and caladiums, is the 

 source of the Kahang, one of the tributaries of the Endau, 

 and while our dinner was getting ready, we clambered up the 

 rocks, and found besides ferns and caladiums, a small waxen- 

 stemmed plant,- thriving on the veriest minimum of soil, 

 with the most beautiful leaves of a velvety brown-tinted 

 green, their surface traversed by veins of purest gold ; this 

 plant, which seems to be an audictochihis of some kind, 

 certainly carries off the palm from the silver, and the red and 

 gold varieties. After turning in, we found the air very 

 keen ; and after a vain attempt to get to sleep in the usual 

 amount of clothing, I was constrained to get up and don two 

 or three additional layers of flannel, after which I contriv- 

 ed to pass the night in barely tolerable warmth ; the wind 

 was blowing boisterously up the gully and through our hut, 



