KINA BALU: SECOND EXPEDITION. 
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bonfire ready for the night. I shot a Blackbird opposite the cave as a memento of my visit. 
We had plenty of warm clothes, but no blankets, being unable to carry them, so could 
hardly manage to keep ourselves warm. I heated a stone in the fire to keep my feet warm 
during the night. Kuro has brought a chicken with him from Kiau ; the bird seems half 
dead with cold: as yet I do not understand his reasons for doing this. To-night he has had 
a religious fit, and has remained in a kneeling position muttering Dusun prayers to the 
spirits and dragons of the mountain. I hear my name mentioned occasionally, and my men, 
who understand a little Dusun, say that he is telling these mythical worthies that we have 
only come to see their home, and do not intend doing any harm. I am in bed, or rather 
lying at the further end of the cave on a bed of green boughs: presently a few drops of 
cold water fall on my face ; I imagine that it is dripping from the roof of rock above, but 
after another, and yet another dose, I discover that the water comes from the direction of 
the prayer-muttering Kuro, who is baptizing us indiscriminately, as a preparation for our 
intended intrusion into the Dusun spirit-world to-morrow. 
11th.—I could not sleep for the cold, though I wore several pairs of trousers and 
coats ; the smoke from the bonfire was suffocating, so I was forced to change my position 
before morning to the mouth of the cave. After partaking of some food we started for the 
summit soon after 7 a.m. When we arrived at the spot reached by Nyhan and myself 
yesterday, the four Dusuns stopped and held a consultation as to the right route; they 
were so undecided, and were wasting valuable time, that I soon lost patience, knowing 
that the summit might be clouded over within a few minutes. So I started off on my own 
account with the two Kadyans. The slope was at a fairly easy grade, but I soon had to 
abandon my boots, which I left amongst the rocks. The Dusuns soon passed us, and on 
reaching the two high crags known as Low’s Gully I found them waiting there; they called 
to us to come up to them, Kuro stating that this was the top of Kina Balu, and was the 
place where Tuhan Helow had left the bottle containing a record of his visit. But as 
the mountain was free from clouds to our left, I at once started for some high crags visible 
in that direction. The Dusuns called out that there was no path and that we could not go 
any further, so we left them, and shortly afterwards they descended from the gully and 
followed us. The formation of the mountain now became most interesting, one part being 
shaped like part of a huge amphitheatre, the seats, as it were, being tilted up high at the 
back. This peculiar appearance is produced by the formation of the granite, which has 
been worn by the elements into huge sbield-like slabs; these slabs get loosened and split 
by atmospheric influences and gradually slide down the slope: they are as neatly cut as 
if from a quarry. These slabs start their downward journey goodly sized rocks, perhaps 
nine inches in thickness by six or eight feet long and five or six broad; before reaching 
the bottom of the slope, which must take years, they are reduced to pieces of less than a 
foot square, and often into small particles. This is the only way in which I could account 
for the curious sizes and shapes of the pieces of granite debris picked up by me, and 
preserved as mementoes to be placed in the bunch of household charms by the Dusuns. 
The slabs w r ere always thicker on the highest or most up-hill edge : thus the weight and 
form would tend to assist their slow downward progress. Much of the summit of this 
mountain is very loose; perhaps there are occasional frosts—the most powerful of Nature’s 
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