VII.—An Account of the Various Expedi¬ 
tions to Mt. Kinabalu. — By J. C. Moulton, 
Curator of the Sarawak Museum. 
Haying recently made an expedition to this great 
mountain in British North Borneo, I became interested in 
the literature on the subject, and with a view to being of 
some assistance to future travellers to the mountain I have 
compiled the following notes, the results of my researches. 
As far as I can ascertain, I have mentioned every Euro¬ 
pean who has reached the higher altitudes and summit. 
No doubt there have been several visitors to the lower 
slopes who had no intention of climbing higher, or who, 
from some reason or other, were prevented from doing so. 
The earliest of these abortive expeditions was that of 
Thomas Lobb, a plant collector, who reached Kiau * in 
1856, the Dusun village on a spur of Kinabalu (alt. 2800 ft.) ; 
he was prevented from going further by the natives of 
Kiau. 
A weekly steamer runs from Singapore to Labuan (three 
days), and thence a few hours on to British North Borneo, 
calling at Jesselton, the principal town on the west coast, 
where the traveller has to disembark for Kinabalu. 
Three routes are available from the coast to Kiau, which 
is the necessary starting-place for the actual ascent. 
The Northern or Tampassuk Route. — For this the 
traveller takes the local steamer from Jesselton to IJsukan 
Bay, a matter of three hours. A carefully graded bridle¬ 
path runs from here right up to Kiau, about forty miles. 
Having previously arranged matters with the Government 
officer in charge of this district, the traveller should find a 
pony at Usukan and several buffaloes in charge of Badjaus 
for his baggage. The first stage is a two hours’ ride to 
Kotabelud, the Government station. The next, five hours 
to Kabaiou, where there is a small rest-house on the left 
* Variously spelt Kiou, Kiow, Kiau ; the last syllable is pronounced 
“ ow ” as in cow , the first as “ e ” in be. 
Sar. Mus. Journ., No. 6, 1915. 
