14 KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 



after the experience that we had had of the Kateh ridges I 

 thought it most probable that we should never get there that 

 way. We could either go round to the north of Gunong 

 Siam, and then due south till we reached the foot of the moun- 

 tain (and this would certainly save us a lot of trouble as the 

 country round that way seemed to be fairly flat), or else we 

 could go to the southward of Tulang Rabong and then straight 

 to Gunong Tahan. This route appeared to be the shortest 

 from Pulai, and I selected it though I knew the country 

 to the southwards to be very mountainous, and difficult to get 

 through ; but as I wanted to do a little collecting on the Tulang 

 Kabang, this suited me the best. After being fully satisfied 

 that it was really Gunong Tahan that we were looking at, we com- 

 menced our descent, a shower of rain hurrying us on, and we soon 

 overtook the coolies, who had not yet found any suitable place 

 for camping. It was already commencing to get dark, and we 

 were threatened with heavy rain so we hurried on as fast as the 

 ground would allow us to travel, and just before it got dark we 

 found a place beside a small stream, with plenty of large palm 

 leaves close by, so all hands were soon busy making a shelter ; 

 and just as the rain came pouring down we had got it ready, 

 and could cook our dinner. The camp was at 4000' so it was 

 rather cold up there, and we had to keep a large fire burning 

 the whole night ; but still the Malays complained about the cold, 

 and were glad when we started next morning for the valley. 

 We expected to strike our old track from Pulai during that 

 day, but somehow we missed it, and got into country unknown 

 to us; so I decided to follow the Kateh down stream, until we 

 reached the village which I knew existed close to its junction 

 with the Galas. We reached the place late the next afternoon, 

 and slept that night in a small Malay hut. Next day I got a 

 couple of Malay guides, who took us back to Pulai where I 

 arrived shortly after noon ; but some of the poor coolies did not 

 arrive till shortly before dark, being thoroughly done up, with 

 their feet full of thorns and bleeding from innumerable leech 

 bites. 



We now remained some days in Pulai to recoup ourselves, 

 during which time I tried hard to get some more coolies ; but 

 only succeeded in getting two more from a village down river 



