KINA BALU: SECOND EXPEDITION. 
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in colour and sticky, being also more nourishing than the Siamese prepared rice, in which, 
I may mention, the Chinese sometimes mix quantities of small white stones which they 
collect on the sea-shore; this is worse than the sand-and-sugar combinations of civilized 
grocers, as the stones break one’s teeth. 
25th.—This morning we were ready early, but were kept waiting some time by the 
Dusuns, not leaving Kiau before 8.30. Kuro started with us, bringing with him his son, 
a precocious boy of ten years old, with a loud voice and a huge mouth. Kabong started 
some time after, but caught us up before mid-day. I left some provisions and cloth in his 
house, which he faithfully took care of. 
After descending to the river, which is now no longer known as the Tampassuk but as 
the Kadamyan, Ave followed the bed of this stream over the usual break-neck course. Kuro 
was anxious to halt soon after mid-day at the foot of a huge rock, which slightly 
overhangs the river and affords shelter from the rain; he told us that former travellers 
had always stopped here. By the time we had boiled our rice for our mid-day meal, the 
rest of the porters had all arrived ; so, after a light repast, I determined to move on, though 
it had already commenced to rain. The Kadamyan now flow's through a grand gorge, the 
sides of which are very precipitous. After struggling up the rocky boulder-filled bed for 
some time under a steady downpour, the Dusuns who were on ahead with us discovered 
that they had passed the right spot for ascending to the top of the gorge, so we had to wait 
until the rest of our party arrived. The supposed guides came to the conclusion that the 
right place for ascending the mountain had been passed some distance down stream on our 
right hand, so there was nothing for it but to climb up the precipitous sides of the gorge. 
This was the only difficult climb we encountered during our ascent of Kina Balu. How 
the Dusuns succeeded in bringing their heavy loads to the top I do not know, as but for 
the kindly assistance of roots and creepers I could not have reached the top myself. About 
4 o’clock we reached a huge rock which was slanting slightly forward, like the one 
where we rested at mid-day, so that the rain did not fall within several yards of its base. 
Since we gained the top of the gorge the travelling has been fairly easy, though we failed 
to find the Dusun path until the rock was nearly reached. I do not think many of the 
Dusuns knew much about this part of their mountain. The mountain at this altitude 
(4800 feet) is covered with a dense tropical forest, the ground being hidden under a 
carpet of ferns and mosses. When we reached the rock we discovered that five of 
the porters were missing, amongst them being the man who carried my cooking-utensils, 
and another who carried the ground sheets; this was a great nuisance: so I had to dine 
off boiled rice and salt fish, which was, however, most acceptable. We made arrangements 
for passing the night here. This rock, judging by the remains of old fires, is often used by 
the mountaineers as a camping-ground. 
2Gth.—After a cold damp night the day broke shrouded in a mountain mist, which is 
accompanied by gusts of cold wind; the mist soon developed into a steady downpour, and 
the five lost Dusuns have not yet arrived. Thus it is impossible to proceed further up the 
mountain, as without cooking-utensils and ground sheets a stay in the colder altitudes 
would be quite impossible. 
The five lost porters arrived at 2 p.m., after having passed a most miserable night, as 
