i8 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



A VACATION TRIP TO MOUNT KINABALU IN 

 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 



F. W. FOXWORTHY. 



Kinabalu is the highest mountain in the whole Malay- 

 region. It occupies a very commanding position in the 

 northern part of the island and can be seen from the 

 sea on three sides — the north, the east, and the west. 

 Latitude, about 6° north; longitude, between ii6° and 

 117° east. 



It has been climbed a number of times since the first 

 trip of Sir Hugh Low in 1852. The great size, compara- 

 tive isolation, and non-volcanic nature of the mountain 

 give it peculiar interest in the part of the world where 

 mountains of volcanic origin are common. The natives 

 living in the country about the mountain have a sort of 

 superstitious veneration for it. The Dusuns regard the 

 top of the mountain as their heaven, the place where 

 good Dusuns go when they die. Bad Dusuns are also 

 supposed to try to reach the place ; but their spirits are 

 unsuccessful in reaching the top, being pushed over some 

 of the huge precipices on the way up, falling to the bottom 

 and having to begin the climb all over again, this process 

 being continued indefinitely. 



This peculiar regard for Mount Kinabalu has made the 

 natives reluctant to climb the mountain and has been 

 responsible for most of the difficulties encountered by 

 those who have attempted the ascent. The natives have 

 frequently decHned to go, and, without their aid as car- 

 riers, the trip is impracticable. 



In February of this year, 1910, Miss Gibbs, a botanist 

 from the British Museum, made a very successful trip 

 to the top. She treated her coolies so well that I found 

 them eager to make the trip again when I arrived at 

 Kiau a month later. 



My trip was purely a vacation ramble, and its course 



