AN EXPEDITION TO MOUNT BATU LAWI. 41 
which twisted and turned round and across great blocks of lme- 
stone, the whole forming one long and wearisome series of ob- 
stacles, each in itself a delightfully uncertain danger. ‘Thus one 
false step and down would go one leg to unknown depths; then a 
slippery root would resent the unaccustomed weight of a human 
being and down some-body else would go through this treacherous 
floor. One Murut in front of me disappeared entirely just as if 
the ground had opened to receive him; luckily however he landed 
on a rock some eight feet below and came to no harm. We struggled 
through this down to the bottom of the ravine where a lovely moun- 
tain stream, the Palabar again, came rushing down in a south- 
westerly direction dividing the two mountains. 
Across this and we were on Batu Lawi at last, alt. 3,740 ft. 
The same kind of growth made our progress very slow for 
the first part up the other side; but this soon changed to the 
the higher kind of jungle, so we moved on quicker to a ridge 
on which we eventually camped a little after midday at an 
altitude of 4,900 ft. (temp. 65° in the shade). We passed 
some likely looking places for rhinoceros and at one _ place 
found some fairly fresh traces of one. The WKalabits say they are 
always to be found on the eastern side of Batu Lawi. Penans are 
said to get them with their sumpitan (blow-pipes), which seemed 
to me incredible considering the delicate nature of the darts they 
use and the thick hide of the rhino, but the Tabuns assured me 
that it was so and some Penans I met later confirmed it. After 
a short meal, a Dayak and I continued the ascent, reaching an 
altitude of 5,660 ft. on the southern end of Batu Lawi. ‘Thick 
clouds alternating with driving rain destroyed all chances of a 
view and we descended again to the lancho on the ridge below. 
May 30th: (7.30 a.m. temp. 64°). Ascend again this morning 
with some 9 or 10 natives, Penribut, Belulok and Madu among 
them; this time keeping along below the place where we ascended 
yesterday, we followed a narrow ledge of rock which brought us to 
a point below the gap between the two peaks. A sheer drop of some 
two or three hundred feet here faced us, and above us a slippery 
rock face with but httle vegetation; two Dayaks made use of a 
loose root and pulled themselves up a little bit higher, but I stayed 
on the ledge with the others ‘not liking to risk it in the rain which 
made everything so dangerously slippery. ‘The height of the ledge 
was 0,660 ft. and the temperature 69° between 9 and 10 a.m. 
We waited there for some time hoping to get a view, but the clouds 
only allowed us a glimpse of the high peak towering above us— 
another 600 feet at most I calculated. The lower peak could 
certainly be climbed without difficulty from the southern end, but 
that sheer column—the higher peak—seemed to present a very 
difficult problem. 
We saw tracks of some small mammals, a tiger-cat according 
to the natives, and I noticed but one butterfly (an Hesperid, pro- 
bably Bibasis uniformis, Elwes), otherwise the absence of aninial 
R.A. Soc., No. 63, 1912. 
