GUNONG TAHAN AND GUNONG RIAM. af 
with a rest of five minutes between each instalment. Shortly after 
leaving camp one of the men sat down, but got up again when the 
programme was explained to him. It proved an excellent plan, for 
we arrived at the Trigonometrical Survey beacon on the summit 
at 12.40. 
Very soon after leaving Batu Salik we emerged from the dense 
jungle onto the ridge marked by the dotted line in Fig. 2 of Plate 
III, which leads up to the summit. The vegetation on this ridge is 
low and in several places one can walk along enjoying a perfect 
view on either side over the bushes (vide the foreground in Fig. 1 
of Plate IV). On other parts of the ridge, however, we plunged 
through vegetation such as that shown in Fig. 2 of Plate IV and 
there was one part where we walked in a bower of mosses hanging 
from the short-trunks and branches of stunted trees. 
The most noticeable point about the vegetation was the abund- 
ance of rhododendrons and large pitcher plants. A bunch of rhodo- 
dendrons is shown in Fig. 2 of Plate IV. AsI write this I amin 
England and I was very interested on landing in comparing garden 
rhododendrons with those I saw on Riam. The flowers of the 
garden plants are perhaps a little finer individually, and they 
certainly grow in larger clusters. On account of the small size of 
the plants compared with the Malayan examples they make a better 
show of bloom, but the rhododendrons on Riam are nevertheless a 
beautiful sight and with julicious pruning could probably be greatly 
improved. 2 
_ There were several other strange flowers, including a ground 
orchid, but nothing of much note as far as beauty was toncerned. 
A very slender bamboo occurs that is probably the famous Malayan 
“ Bulu berindu”’, but I have never heard a Malay admit the identity, 
although I have seen this slender bamboo elsewhere. Nor have I 
ever succeeded in persuading a Malay to take a piece down toa 
Kampong to try the affect. I remember once that after seeing the 
bamboo on another mountain I discussed the matter with one of 
the men. He decided that the bamboo we had seen could not be 
the “‘ Bulu berindu’’ because it was so easy to obtain. The real 
“ Bulu berindu”’ always had thunderstorms and thick clouds around 
it, while dragons and other ferocious creatures guarded the 
approaches. I met no dragons on Riam. 
Fig. 1 of Plate IV shows the beacon on the summit of Riam. 
As can be seen from the photograph the mountain is an exposed 
place on which to camp and I do not remember many more uncom- 
fortable nights than that spent there. The weather was unfavour- 
able. It was clear when we arrived, but about 2 p.m. it began to 
rain and blow and continued doing so until 10 p.m. My tent was 
slung under the beacon but the cold wind found me out, and even 
after 10 p.m. it was bitterly cold. I put on two flannel shirts and 
my jungle clothes, including boots and putties, and crept under two 
blankets but still felt chilled. At 4 p.m. the temperature was 58 
Fahr. What it dropped to afterwards I do not know, as I was too 
“R. A. Soc., No. §2, 191: 
*2 
