80 



TAHAN EXPEDITION. 



On the third day the river was one continuous succession of falls 

 and rapids, so that we were glad enough to be travelling by land, 

 although the forest was dense and choked with thorns, and the steep 

 hill sides sloping sharply down to the river made the journey very 

 difficult, especially for men so heavily laden as we were at this time. 



On the fourth day the rapids being somewhat fewer and the reaches 

 longer, we attempted to improve the pace by making a raft (for the 

 heavier burdens only) ; but, when it was tried, progress was found to be 

 slower still and we had to abandon the idea and take to the jungle 

 again. I found during the afternoon that the going was much better 

 on the skyline of the hills overlooking the Tahan, and so kept the men 

 from going down to the rocky river side, which they were only too 

 prone to do whenever I allowed it partly, I think, because they felt 

 safer with the river actually in sight. 



Following the skyline we came repeatedly upon peculiar open spaces 

 several yards square and absolutely devoid of leaves and rubbish.* 

 These places, according to the Malays, are the spots which the 

 mountain 'bro (not the ordinary 'bro of the lowlands, but the full-sized 

 cannibal 'bro of G-unong Tahan traditions f) clears for himself in order 

 to feast on the grubs which he finds on the leaves. On our return 

 I was repeatedly asked if we had been molested by these 'bro ; certainly 

 we had not been molested, but we did see many magnificent specimens 

 of what was no doubt the ordinary 'bro, which replied menacingly to 

 our coolies, and would have proved awkward customers if we had had 

 to tackle them. Moreover, as we followed the trail we passed from 

 time to time, broken branches or young saplings which had been broken 

 short (the Malays assured me) by the brutes, of whose cannibal 

 propensities they declared themselves to be mortally afraid. 



The key to easy jungle travelling among many Malay hills, if not 

 all, lies in knowing that the best track is almost always to be had by 

 following the skyline. It may be that the denizens of the jungle (both 

 Avild beasts and Sakais) prefer to travel in comfort on the flat ground, 



* Three such places I passed in the coarse of a few minutes. One measured 

 ten yards by iive as I stepped it. — W. 8. 



(With regard to the origin of these bare spots I am afraid that Mr. Skeat's 

 Malays must have been imposing on his credulity. I have met with dozens in 

 similar situations and they are nothing more than the playing-grounds of the 

 Argus Pheasant.) The 'bro seen were most probably siamang. — H. C. R. 



f The tradition of Gunong Tahan is that it contains the mother veins (ibu) of 

 all the gold and silver in this part of the country, but that this El Dorado is 

 defended from the cupidity of mortals by malignant demons, gigantic serpents, 

 the canibal apes, to which 1 have referred and all manner of wild beasts which 

 have the power when shot at of transforming themselves. The very mosquitoes 

 on this mountain were believed to be as big as fowls. However little evidence 

 may be attached to the report of gold and silver, it is a matter of common 

 knowledge on the east coast that a local chief on that .side of the Peninsula is ;i 

 possessor of a nugget or lump of gold of unusual si/.r, which was dug' out of the 

 mountain by a Sakai. — W. S. 



