2N SUMATRA. 



251 



Tiio ascent of the Kiirang-iiata, as the principal peak is 

 called, was by uo means easy, as its white cliffs — which from 

 below glinted prettily through tiie vegetation — were almost 

 perpeiHlieular, and had to be scrambled up by digging one's 

 lingers and toea well into the crevices. It btis several caves full 

 of sfcilaetites, one especially being of great dimensions, whose 

 ntmierous chambers were tenanted by thousands of bats, whose 

 stifling guana-like odour met me half-way down. The hiU is 

 composed of a broad band of crystalline limestone bedded 

 between Devonian slates tilte^l up on edge, which at the base 

 of the hill run under the diluvium of the Palembang Plain. 

 The larger cave is in its interior quite protected from the severe 

 effects of the weather, but it bears evident traces of what must, 

 I think, be attributed to sea erosion. The summit is a vast 

 rockery of disjointed blocks, with trees growing in the crevices, 

 their stems, as well as the crannies and faces of the rocks, 

 loaded with ferns anrl orchids {Cmhijtjne, spp.) bearing trossea 

 of flowers more than a yard in length ; with varions species of 

 Mdmtoma exhibiting bright flowers or pink fruits, but princi- 

 pally with a shrubby spe4jies, in great |)rofusion, of Cyrtandrem^ 

 having a Mower of a rich purple-blue colour, which to my great 

 satisfaction I perceived to belong to a new species, which I 

 have immed Bom Trmhii* and probably to a new genus of 

 ttiat beautiful family. During the ten days— to my regret all 

 the time I could spare— of my stay in this region I made 

 large additions — ^some 200 species— to my herbarium among 

 the specimens of trees, one being a species of nutmeg with 

 fruit as large as the largest orange. 



Here, too, I noticed a singular Ciise of ants milking a winged 

 Hcmipteron, which of course could not be kept in captivity, 

 as they do many species of thej wingless aphides. The 

 Hemipteron sat quietly, evidently enjoying the operation, and 

 at frequent intervals discharged a drop of matter, which was 

 eagerly sipped up by the ants. 



1 have already spoken of the great beauty of the riverside 

 vegetation coming down the Rupit which ran through a 

 less great forest than that between Napal Litjin and Muara 



* Sy named in honour of Dr. Melcliior Trcub, the esleeraed Director of tho 

 lii)tantf'al Gnnlens in Buiictiaurii, to whose kind al*l and influeiico 1 owed 

 muclj during my t-tay in the Arelii[ieliii;t'. 



