October 20, 1881 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
355 
Joseph Dalton Hooker, K.C.S.I., the present Director of the Royal 
Gaidens, Kew, in compliment to his friend Rajah Brooke, a man 
whose name is yet a “ household word ” throughout the length and 
breadth of Borneo, and among all the native races of the Malayan 
Archipelago. N. Edwardsiana is another fine species, having 
pitchers varying from 12 to 22 inches in length, and being of a soft 
vermilion red colour. N. Lowii is shaped like an old-fashioned 
wine flagon, and N. villosa true (not N. Veitchii, often misnamed 
N. villosa) is coloured like a well-ripened Peach of the Royal 
George race. Then N. Boschiana var. Lowii has long cylindrical 
green pitchers heavily blotched with dark purple; and N. Bur- 
bidgei has triangular stems, decurrent leaves, and bears pure white 
pitchers, something like the finest eggshell porcelain in texture, 
spotted with bright purplish red or crimson. 
Of all these species N. Kajah is by far the most bold and distinct 
in habit of growth, and it bears pitchers of by far the largest size and 
capacity. The largest-sized pitchers borne by this species hold 
nearly four pints of water when full, and are capacious enough to 
drown a rat; indeed, Mr. Hugh Low actually did find a dead rat 
in one of the pitchers of this species, as related by Spencer St. John 
in his ‘ Life in the Forests of the Far East.’ Mr. Low, although 
the original discoverer of all the above species, was singularly 
unfortunate in his attempts to introduce them alive into European 
gardens. So also Mr. Thos. Lobb, a most successful Eastern plant- 
hunter, failed even to reach their habitat, although he did penetrate 
into the interior as far as Kina, the last village on the way to the 
great Pitcher Plant Mountain. The natives of Kina aie a bold 
and independent people, and refused to allow Lobb to pass, but he 
ascended the small mountain ofLabang Labang, to the right in our 
sketch, and there actually found N. villosa, although he failed to 
bring it home alive. Kina Balu is 13,700 feet high, and is five or 
six days’ journey from the N.W. Bornean coast.” 
The following is an account of a journey to this mountain under¬ 
taken by Mr. Burbidge and Mr. Peter Veitch, as given in Mr. Bur- 
bidge's interesting work of travel, “ The Gardens of the Sun*.” 
“ Returning to the Ivina we engaged Boloung and Kurow, the 
acting head men of the village, and six of their followers, to take 
us up the great Kina Balu mountain on the morrow. ‘ Musa ’ and 
Pangeran Raman did most of the bargaining on our side, and at 
length concluded the matter by paying over the amount of cloth and 
brass wire as agreed. Next morning we selected sixteen of our men 
and started for the mountain. In a rich bit of shady forest on the 
other side of the Kina ridge we found the evergreen Calanthe macro- 
loba, bearing spikes of white flowers much larger individually than 
those of C. veratrifolia. A foliage plant marked with silvery blotches 
above and crimson beneath was also collected. Our road was a rough 
and tiring one of sloping hillside paths very wet and slippery, and in 
places blocked by fallen trees. About one o’clock we reached a rush¬ 
ing stream, and our guides brought us to a large overhanging rock, 
where they said we must pass the night. It now began to rain 
heavily, so we at once told the men to cut sticks and Palm leaves 
Fig. 61.—Kina balu mountain, n.w. bobnko. 
to lay on the ground where we were to sleep, and over which we 
could spread our waterproof sheet? and rugs. This was soon done, 
and meanwhile our ‘ boys ’ prepared luncheon. We were disgusted at 
stopping thus early in the day, and wished our guides to proceed 
when the rain abated, which, however, they determinedly refused to 
do. To make the best of a bad bargain I and Mr. Yeitch explored 
the forest above our camp, where we found a pretty Aroid with white 
blotched leaves, and another marbled with silvery grey ; also a varie¬ 
gated plant resembling an Ansecfochilus, but which Professor Reich- 
enbach tells me is the Cystorchis variegata of Blume. This plant I 
had previously gathered in another locality further south ; indeed, it 
seems pretty generally distributed along the north-west coast. Speci¬ 
mens of two or three delicate Filmy Ferns were found near the stream ; 
and at our camping place, which we named the ‘ Sleeping Rock,’ the 
pretty little Adiantum diaphanum was plentiful, and living plants 
were brought to England from this habitat. 
“ About seven o’clock next morning we started on our upward 
journey. It was hot work at first, but we could feel it perceptibly 
get cooler after the first 2000 or 3000 feet. At about 4000 feet Mosses 
are very plentiful, the finest species gathered being Dawsonia superba, 
which fringed the path, but nowhere in great plenty. A new white- 
flowered species of Burmannia was also gathered, and small-flowered 
Orchids were seen. In one place a shower of small scarlet Rhodo¬ 
dendron flowers covered the ground at our feet, the plant being 
epiphytal in the trees overhead. It was very misty, and the Moss 
which covered every rotten stick, and the vegetation generally, was 
dripping with moisture, and every sapling we grasped in climbing 
upwards was the means of shaking a shower-bath on us from the 
trees above. At about 5000 feet a dead and broken pitcher of 
Nepenthes Lowi lying in the path led to the discovery of the plant 
itself scrambling among the mossy branches overhead, its singular 
flagon-shaped ascidia hanging from the point of every leaf. It is a 
vigorous-habited plant, with bright green leathery leaves, the petioles 
of which clasp the stem in a peculiar manner. The only plants we 
saw were epiphytal on mossy trunks and branches, and we searched 
for young plants diligently, but without success. All the pitchers 
hitherto seen are cauline ones, and as the plant has never yet been 
seen in a young state, it is an open question as to whether the radical 
pitchers differ in shape or size, as is the case with most other species. 
As we ascended higher, epiphytal Orchids, especially Ericas, Dendro- 
chilia, and Coelogynes, became more plentiful, and we came upon a 
large-flowered Rhododendron, bearing rich orange flowers 2 inches 
in diameter, and twenty flowers in a cluster ! It grew on a dangerous 
declivitv, and not one of our lazy men would venture to get it for us. 
Such a prize, however, was too lovely to forego, and after a wet 
scramble among the surrounding bushes I secured it in good con¬ 
dition. Two or three other species were seen in flower, but none 
equal to it in its golden beauty. Here also we found two of 
the most distinct of all Rhododendrons, R. ericifolium and R. steno- 
phyllum. On open spaces among rocks and Sedges the giant Nepen¬ 
thes Rajah began to appear, the plants being of all sizes, and in the 
most luxuriant health and beauty. The soil in which they grew was 
a stiff yellow loam, surfaced with sandstone grit, and around the 
larger plants a good deal of rich humus and leaf debris had collected. 
The long red-pitchered N. Edwardsiana was seen in two places. This 
plant, like N. Lowii, is epiphytal in its perfect state, and is of a slender 
♦ London : John Murray, Albemarle Street. 
