A TRIP TO GUNONG BENOM. 5 
_I had fortunately borrowed from the Selangor Survey Office. 
In clear weather the view was very fine. The hill sloped steep- 
ly on all sides except towards the Gunong and seemed to rise 
out of a level plain. On the north in the dim distance above 
the spurs of the ‘massif’ were Gunong Tahan and another notice- 
able peak since identified at Sinting. On the west the main 
range ran from Perak down to Jelebu with foot hills below it. 
and a narrow plain leading from Raub southward to the Bentong 
and Semantan cut up with long ridges of hills separating the 
various streams. At the foot of the Gunong were the white 
limestone cliffs of Gunong Serdam with the Gali plain beyond 
and Raub with the iron-roofed mine buildings sharply picked 
out and the cable-track showing like a long angled trench. I 
managed twice to get bearings of Tahan and to sketch the 
range of which it forms part. The beacon which I erected 
stands on the highest of these small peaks of about equal height 
and the clearing round it measures quite five acres. 
The weather was fair only. There was a good deal of rain 
and on more than one day I never gota single sight. The sun 
when it shone was very hot and I found that working the theo- 
dolite under it meant considerable loss of cuticle from the nose 
and face. At 8 p.m. the temperature was about 69° and at 6 
a.m. 62°. The Malays complained a good deal of the cold 
although I had provided every man with a blanket. Many of 
them suffered from chapped lips. My Chinese cook in a blue 
serge Norfolk suit worn over all his other clothes looked a 
quaint sight. He never complained however and baked most 
excellent bread in an empty kerosine tin. A great difficulty 
was water supply. Every day a water party of five men had 
to be sent to the last camp nearly 2000 feet down and as the 
climb was steep and the men out of sight that water party did 
very little or no other work. Bathing was of course out of the 
question and washing had frequently to be foregone. 
The ‘pawang’ was a great nuisance. Naturally he did no 
work himself and I suppose equally naturally he was of no use 
at all when the men went on strike. He was one of the most 
self-righteous natives whom | ever met and though quite illiter- 
ate fully equalled many a Koran-quoting haji in conceit. Asa 
‘pawang’ he did little except to ‘ Jampi’ a man who was bitten 
R. A. Soc., No. 39, 1903. 
