KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 17 



were not used to work in the mountains, so they very soon got 

 tired, and I had continually to sit down and wait for them. We 

 reached the camp of my Malays in four days, and it was my in- 

 tention to push on the next day for the foot of Tahan ; but my 

 Pahang Malays, who had been out cutting' part of the path while 

 1 had been away, had found this such hard work and such diffi- 

 cult climbing 1 that they refused to go on. I argued with them 

 a long time but it was no use, and promises or threats of 

 punishment had equally little effect on them, and next morning 

 they had disappeared, leaving behind them their parangs and 

 spare clothing, which I had taken from them the previous 

 evening, thinking thereby to prevent them from running away. 

 When the K elan tan Malays saw this they also refused to go any 

 farther, and the whole lot of them went back to Pulai leaving 

 me only six men that I had with me from Kota Bahru, and a 

 couple of Pahang men that joined me a few days later. Includ- 

 ing myself and my Chinese boy we were nine in all, and to 

 push on for Gunong Tahan with so few men would have been 

 useless, as we should only have been able to carry enough 

 provisions to take us to the foot of the mountain and back ; 

 whereas I wanted to stay some time near the top of the moun- 

 tain to collect specimens. Therefore I decided to remain where 

 we were, in the hope that the headman at Pulai would send the 

 Kelantan Malays back to me, when he heard how I was situated ; 

 and this proved to be correct, the men returning to me at the 

 end of twelve days. In the meantime we had done some collect- 

 ing, and got a few rare birds and some orchids. My boy who 

 had seen the Chinese at Pulai working gold amused himself by 

 prospecting in the river bed ; and one day he brought back to 

 the camp a large piece of quartz which proved to be very rich, 

 the gold being visible running right through it. The lode that 

 it came from could not have been far off, as the mountain which 

 the river sprang from was quite close, but we had no time to 

 look for it. 



It was my intention to take that piece of quartz back with 

 me to Pulai on the return journey ; but, as luck would have it, I 

 never came back that way ; and so it is still lying there waiting 

 for somebody to come and pick it up. Having got the men 

 back we then made another start, having first to climb the ridge 



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