A TRIP TO MT. PENRISSEN, SARAWAK. 5 



mountain, and as these up to a height of 2,000 feet are clothed 

 with bamboo jungle, we found the going- much more easy. 

 After crossing several mountain torrents, we reached late in 

 the afternoon, at an altitude of 2,500 feet, a huge over- 

 hanging boulder of sandstone conglomerate, known to the 

 Sennahs as Batu Tinong, and under this we pitched our 

 our camp for the night. A dashing mountain stream was 

 quite close by, and the delight of sitting under a foaming 

 cascade of really cold water after our exhausting day was one 

 not readily to be forgotten. Leeches had proved persistent and 

 troublesome throughout the day, but in my opinion the annoy- 

 ance caused by them has always been somewhat exaggerated. 



Next morning' we continued our climb until we had reached 

 an altitude of 3,400 feet, when our guides called a final halt : the 

 position was not particularly inviting, being a very small Hat 

 area totally shut in by tall jungle, whiist both to the front and 

 rear the sides of the mountain sloped steeply downwards and 

 upwards; however, as we were informed that there was no 

 water to be had at any greater height, and further that all the 

 Europeans who had previously visited the mountain had encamp- 

 ed here, we had perforce to acquiesce in our guides' decision. 

 Our carriers made a clearing and proceeded to build us a hut ; 

 this took two or three hours to complete, as we insisted it should 

 be commodious, solid and watertight; the poles and beams 

 were of course felled in the jungle, and the floor, raised about 

 two feet off the ground, was made with laths and saplings, 

 whilst intertwisted palm-leaves served for roof and walls. Every 

 felled tree produced a small harvest of insects; a few interest! ig 

 butterflies invaded the clearing, amongst them Cyrestis seminigra, 

 previously only recorded from Kina Balu, whilst in the un- 

 dergrowth were founJ snails, scorpions and centipedes, ail 

 delightfully unfamiliar to the lovv-co :ntry naturalist. In secur- 

 ing these specimens and in rigging up shelves and sleeping-bunks 

 in our hut, making all comfortable and snug, we spent the rest 

 of the day. 



On the following day (May 13th) Mr. Cox early started 

 out to explore the mountain at a higher elevation, and at mid- 

 day returned with the report that after a stiff climb of 400 feet 

 he had reached a magnificent plateau of considerable extent, 



