50 AN EXPEDITION TO MOUNT KINA BALU. 



G. D. Haviland (9) in 1892. The idea of attempting the ascent 

 myself occurred to me in January last (?'. e. 1899) when I made 

 the acquaintance of Mr. H. T. Burls, M. I. M. E., F. G. S., who 

 was passing- through Singapore on his way to North Borneo in 

 order to prospect there for oil, and who wished to ascend Kina 

 Balu apart from his primary business object. After some dis- 

 cussion on the subject in Singapore, we settled the preliminary 

 arrangements for a joint expedition by correspondence after Mr. 

 Burls had arrived in Labuan. H. E. Governor Beaufort, British 

 North Borneo, expressed his willingness to join the expedition. 



I left Singapore by the S. S. ' Ranee ' on Saturday, March 

 4th, 1899 accompanied by my assistant P. M. de Fontaine and 

 two native servants, a Chinese cook and a Malay, and reached 

 Labuan, after an unfavourable passage, on Thursday, March 9th. 

 Mr. R. M. Little kindly met me on landing and explained to me 

 the various preparations for transport and carriers which were 

 being made by Mr. Haynes at Gaya. Unfortunately I heard at 

 the same time that Mr. Burls and H. E. Governor Beaufort were 

 prevented from joining the expedition, the former through an 

 accident to his knee, the latter in consequence of his accelerated 

 departure for Europe. However, Mr. Burls kindly offered to 

 take me on a short trip to Brunei the next day, and we slept the 

 night on board his steam launch " Marudu " in order to make an 

 early start for Brunei. 



Friday, March 10th. We left about 3.30. a.m. for Brunei, 

 arriving there at 9. a.m., explored the neighbourhood a little, 

 visited a pawnshop where I bought a number of parangs and 

 krisses for the Raffles Museum, and left again in the afternoon. 

 We arrived in Labuan at 8 p.m. and slept on board the ' Marudu.' 



Saturday, March 11th. Mr. Burls being unable to accom- 

 pany me, I chartered the steam-launch ' Enterprise,' started 

 from Labuan at 8.45 a.m., and had a pleasant run to Gaya, where 

 I arrived at 7 p.m. We landed at the pier which is in process of 

 being broken up. Since Mat Salleh destroyed the greater part 

 of this village, including the Government offices, in 1897, the 

 latter have been shifted to Gantian, on the mainland of Borneo, 

 and the woodwork of this pier is now required for Gantian. In 

 the darkness we climbed along the remains of the pier (at least 

 \ mile long), and, when near the other end, were rescued by a 



