October 23rd — Yerv sore and stiff ; the effects of yesterday's work ; but took my plants' 
to Malang and packed them for shipment to Singapore filling two large cases. Returned to 
Thaipeng at 12.30 a.m. 
October 2-lth settling with the men, laiuing heavily all day. 
October 25th -Raining all day ; sent mj baggage onto Bukii Gantang, and at 4 P.M. 
! left for the same place, arriving "there about 0 P.xr. Here 1 spent the night and was very 
kindly treated by the Malay policemen. 
October 26 th left Bukit Gantang at 7.3l> \ . w . for Gapis after having engaged men 
to go up Gunong Pondok with me the next day. 
The Brapit Bass forms the boundary between Perak proper and Lamt, and the road 
ri>cs 100 feet on the .Larut side, and falls 200 feet So Gapis on the Perak side. 
Here very many interesting plants are to be met with, notably an un described Araliad, 
while the most casual observer can hardly fail being struck by the majestic appearance of a 
i. Limber of plants of Angiopteris eveeta. The Zingerworts muster -here too in force, the most 
beautiful perhaps, being Alpinia nutans. An alpinia with nankeen coloured (lowers, and 
another with beautifully zebra striped foliage are abundant. 
Arriving at Gapis I put up at the Police Station which is noted for its fever giving 
air. and waited for my men who arrived at 6 i\ m\. Temperature at 0 p. \i. 7th c Raining all 
night. 
October, 27th— Had considerable difficulty in. getting a guide to go up Gunong Pondok 
with me. Although several had promised the day before to be ready at 0 a-, m. to-day and 
<o got stocks of Quinine from me, no, one liad put in an appearance at S a. in. when I sent 
two policemen to see what had become of them, and at 10 a. ra. they returned bringing tw o 
of the deserters with them, and I started at once, . 
Gunong Pondok consists of two peaks almost isolated frdm any other range, composed 
of. limestone, while all other bills for miles - round are of granite formation. 
On the Southern side it is quite perpendicular, except a small gorge running down, bet ween 
the two peaks, where there are trees, Ac. — the only vegetation on the steep parts consisting of a 
lew plants of Cvcas circimilig, which have a miserably starved appearance. For 000 feet up 
the gorge our path was a tolerably easy one, through rank growing Zingiberads. but after 
t Itat we had several bare walls of limestone to scale — from 10 to 20 feet high, for which we 
were obliged to construct ladders of sticks and roots. 
From 1000 to 4400 feet 1 could see no soil at all ; nothing but a lot of liuiesio.no block- 
thrown together amongst which a few Podoearpi and Pandauds were growing, and u fen 
herbaceous plants on the shady sides of the rocks : Eventually we reached an elevation of 1700 
I eel above Gapis which I found to be the highest point. Here the jungle is much more dense 
than at 1400 feet, and wc round some Ccelogynes, and Bolbophy bums, Pholidota imbricata, 
H»i Abides and a very pretty A nseetoehilis, and several Ferns. 
In our descent I had the misfortune to fall about 20 feet, down a limestone ledge, 
breaking my watch, aneroid and thermometer. The last being the most important as the Resi- 
dent informed me, that there were no more in Perak. 
1 was much disappointed with the results of my search on this hill, as I fully expected 
to find a distinct iiora front any that I had previously seen, being my first f.carcli on lime- 
stone. Although we frequently met with large walls of limestone full of nooks, which seemed 
so well adapted as nidi for Cypripediums, Ac, not one could be found. 
Palms were represented by Saguerus saeearifer Licuala peltr^a and Pinanga maculata, 
and Alocasia Vcitclui was abundant in some places: 
October, 2Sth Wept ombei^ Left the Police station at (5 v. m. to visit some cavers on Gunong 
Pondok, more especially for the purpose of examining the deposits of bats dung in them ■ 
for a Report to the Resident, 
'We climbed up about 260 feet on the Eastern peak which brought us to the mouth of the 
cave. The entrance is about 40 feet high and the sides are covered with slimy green vegetable 
organism. 
The species of bat which inhabits it is probably Pteropus minimus, of which there 
must be thousands in this one cave, and the noise they made when wc disturbed their 
matutinal slumbers by lighting our torches w as deafening. I went in for about 60 feet but 
ibe strong smell .from the deposit of dung, Ac., was too powerful to permit of my going 
further. I found it to be from 4 to 5 feet deep ranging in colour from black, the most 
recent, to quite white like saltpetre the earlier deposits. 
This would form a valuable fertilizer for any quick growing crops such as .Sugarcane 
and Tobacco, the Chinese here have already found out its use for making saltpetre. 
the soil about the foot of Gunong Pondok appears to be very good, but 1. was in- 
formed that there are only about -1000 acres of it. Part of this would form a splendid place 
for trying Ipecacuanha. 
October, 29th — Left Gapis at 8.30 a.wl and arrived at JC walla Ivangsa about noon. All 
the way along the road men and women and children were busy planting paddy, and the Malays 
told me that more paddy was being planted in Perak this year then there has been for a great 
number of years previous, which says a good deal for the state of the country. The low land 
between the Brapit Pass and K walla Kangsa appears to be adapted for paddy cultivation only. 
1 saw some plots of Tobacco plants; but they were not over-luxuriant. 
October, 3tfs4, and Jfevoi iherffl-gt, were spent at the Residency at ivwalla Kangsa making 
arrangements for future, journeys. 
November, ,2nd September. —Left the Residency at 7 a. .\r. and crossed the Perak river to 
Sayong where some of the Rajah Muda's men met me to go up Gunong Sayong. in search 
°f Gutta yielding trees. 
