Kelantan and my trip to Gunong Tahan 



By Me. John Waterstradt. 



Gunong' Tahan, the supposed highest mountain in the Malay 

 Peninsula had always a great attraction for me, ever since 

 I had ascended the Kina Balu mountain in Borneo, situated in 

 about the same latitude, as I wanted to compare the fauna of 

 the former with that of the latter. However it was not until 

 ten years after my first ascent of Kina Balu, that I found an 

 opportunity of undertaking the journey to Gunong Tahan. My 

 plans for the trip had been laid long beforehand, and 1 had 

 decided to take the Kelantan route in preference to that of 

 Pahang, as several expeditions which had tried to reach the 

 mountain by the latter route had failed, mostly I believe owing 

 to the difficulty of obtaining food supplies. I decided to aban- 

 don everything in the shape of comforts for this trip, taking 

 with me only things that were absolutely necessary, and utilising 

 all the coolies I could get for carrying provisions. Leaving 

 Singapore towards the end of April in a small coasting steamer, 

 I arrived in Kelantan four days later, the steamer calling at 

 most of the ports along the coast, on the way up. The mouth 

 of the Kelantan river is on the map given as farther south than 

 it really is, but that entrance has long ago sanded up, and ships 

 have now to enter by the northern entrance. Lately a fairly 

 good light house has been erected by the Siamese, and a 

 Siamese gunboat is always stationed there. Owing to the shal- 

 lowness of the river all steamers are obliged to anchor just 

 inside the bar, behind a sand, spit that affords good shelter ; and 

 passengers and cargo are taken up to Kota Bahru in small 

 native boats. 



Kota Bahru, the capital of Kelantan, in situated about eight 

 miles from the mouth of the river, on the right bank of the 

 same, and contains according to the Rajah's account, about 

 20,000 inhabitants. The town consists really, of two villages: 



