18 GUNONG TAHAN AND GUNONG RIAM. 
cold to get out of bed and look. Judging from the comparative 
comfort of sleeping in. the open, and on the ground, in another 
country when the thermometer showed 12° of frost, the minimum 
on Riam that night might have been zero, but I do not suppose it 
fell below 54° Fahr. 
Iam unable to describe the magnificence of the view from 
Riam. I doubt if anyone could do justice to it. ‘The great peaks 
around me in the main range of the Peninsula, and the cloud-filled 
valleys made a far grander panorama than the view from Tahan. 
One thing I will try to describe. Some time after midnight I woke 
up and saw the Southern Cross shining brightly. Later a crescent 
moon and a brilliant planet rose, showing up the dark outlines of 
Gunong-Gyang and Yang Blar. Then these paled as the dawn 
broke and masses of pink clouds became visible in the valleys. The 
light grew in the east with a wonderful glow of red and urange, and, 
to my delight, showed up with perfect definition the distant Tahan 
Range as a black silhouette against the coming sunrise. The range 
was far, far away, but so clearly was it seen that it might have 
been a tiny ridge but a mile or so distant. Then as the sun rose 
above the horizon, the Tahan range disappeared in a shimmering 
blue haze, and the glory of the morning lit up all the surrounding 
peaks. I have never seen anything to equal that sunrise on Gunong 
Riam, and do not expect to see anything to equal it, but words 
cannot describe it adequately. 
I have referred to this mountain as Riam although it is 
generally known as ‘Kerbau,” and must now explain why. I had 
heard long ago that Riam was the correct Malay name but had also 
been told that a Kerbau”’ had nothing to do with a watec-buffalo, 
but was a corruption of a Senoi word meaning mountain, so that 
“Gunong Kerbau’”’ would mean simply “Mountain Mountain.”’ 
This I thought might explain the appearanee on the new map, 
published by the Society, of the name © Korbu”’ for this mountain, 
which I had not heard before;-but I learned from- Midin, who had 
been up the hill on three previous occasions, and the Senoi men, 
that [ was on the wrong track. The local Senoi word for mountain 
is, I was told, “ Jelmul,’’ which cannot possibly be connected with 
“ Kerbau’”’ or “ Korbu.” The Malay name for this mountain is 
‘“Riam” and always has been so; but once many years ago a 
Frenchman, not knowing this, ascended the mountain from Sungei 
Siput by a route following a stream called the S. Kerbau and there- 
fore called the mountain © Gunong Kerbau.”’ Hence, if my informa- 
tion is correct, Gunong Kerbau”’ is a misnomer of French origin. 
IT have some old literature that leads me to suspect the identity of 
the Frenchman, but the matter is not of sufficient Im BOEIne.. Lo 
discuss here. 
_ On our. way down from the mountain we had an amusing ex- 
perience at the tin-stealers’ Kongsi, where we slept for the night. 
The tin-stealers had decamped at our approach an 1 we found a com- 
modious house wherein to cook our food, dry clothes, and rest. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
