22 KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 



but on arriving there we found no sign of them. Ilowever I had 

 left there four tins of salmon and two pounds of biscuits when we 

 went up the mountain, and we now made a scanty meal of half of 

 these, reserving the other half for next day. At night we dis- 

 cussed what was to be done, and as all the Malays wanted to make 

 for the nearest village to obtain food there, I gave in ; though 

 I would rather have remained at the foot of the mountain and 

 waited for the return of the three men, living on the mountain on 

 such game as we could shoot and snare. Early next morning 

 we started, leaving most of my things behind in the camp, tak- 

 ing with us only a blanket each, and my collection of birds. 

 My Malays wanted me to leave the latter behind to enable us 

 to travel quicker, but I was afraid the skins would be spoiled 

 before we could return for them, and so I made the men carry 

 them along. Following the Kelai river we soon came past the 

 mountain, and as the three men who had gone before us had 

 made a track for us we got on rather quickly. A couple of hours 

 walking brought us to a shelter where these men had camped, 

 and beyond this were two tracks, so it was evident the men had 

 gone wrong first, and finding this out, had returned to this place 

 and struck out in another direction. We kept on following 

 the river, but soon got into difficult country, with spurs from 

 the mountains running right down to the river, so that we often 

 had to cross the same, to escape having to climb over these 

 hills, some of which were rather high and steep. Having to 

 cross the river so often delayed us a good deal, as the river was 

 in flood, the water coming tearing down with great force ; and 

 great care had to be taken in crossing over. The course of the 

 river was very crooked indeed ; but we had to keep to the banks 

 and follow all its bends and windings, as we got into the hills 

 as soon as we attempted to cut off some of the corners ; and the 

 Malays declared they were unable to do any climbing, as they 

 had had so little food for the last' few days. So on the 

 whole I do not think we got very far that day. After rigging 

 up a shelter for the night we fired a couple of dynamite cart- 

 ridges in some pools in the rivers, but only got a few small 

 fishes, that would scarcely have satisfied the hunger of one man, 

 so I got the Malays to collect some young palm shoots, and we 

 made a meal of them ; but the Malays declared that they were 



