oe S98 9 PS Poe ira! a) Aid (aed " Pe TTR Te a ae eet ve ¥ i Ba Bala tyre eae har ern ety a eae hae dithee mh Ft teat ae 444 4) oe We ad wih “ A Vitae. Cac Pe OP ea CA ee wae a) Pa We a A eC me TC 4 Wa S tebetpibodt ee ae ee } ehedd ad avtead ia 4 Foner a Sf ddd ‘ At | aie a Ea oey eee gy A 1a 4 PLA eeema et Og 1%, Ae a tag Vad a ew EY 08 OG 8 a ee AN a aot i Ret aie ih ives aid oh + Han at) i dot a ed 4 CLA da hat Adicts ta ae ys ba Gai gh Ane a) add ite ta dig Rae EVAN A UA at . nko Aad ¥ id AE. ae Pitidae i ; ae 4 M3 oe Rae ee ; Be RYE Re Ee le 2 a8 a Lait vad dia ead on Ce et aa CRiee ae | t > 4 Wax At bade Roba ay ie Lotte dW aed ead be Gooey aaa ql “ va iw Cree oa] e.e.8 wa. "ea ida aaa Wa 2d ee aL Ct Soe en a | YEN A te OT @ e Pair mit ker Wot Be WAN bea dee wR Ca a Ren at 9 25) RG 1 ae aoe thie de ge hdta ha ote a Saed dnacith eat led ‘ ‘ ean ‘ 18.4: Ne it Ab i ftegl} Pa te You Wu AA ON Me ot Pak Me 7 ee LO aed Ppt fo fee Va Mee eT LA eek tei Cat Serr eet) A Pua nee é i 4 ea Li a t Pt.) vis y a 4 rene fd aed hats Pelzy ¥ yA eae fyoeue i ips ti aCe ; DR Ry Fges fcr Wit ay tg Ue Piet peat Ft ot tL aby f z anaes wviwa aN on ye sae Vaan put ey THatay. t b Ly, * nee a ty t ‘ aye Ra a Wd alg f ioe a ‘ AS, i “8, Pere rettf oe U War as wou Been hihi pea eR a) Tay Sh PW eae Fie agit AN eet 7 RU ane A SB Ro ee oe os ee FAA AL SLALS ve ho wr Fi 85) oF Wi eiier de Gil da Bid ade CW ea Pieter aid fet Paper at eh iay Seat et Ey iF, uh ve okie he eR es) Bye, PALA et ee We A RO ede oe a COU Re a ie: i Lie + 2 as Pee PRG bed aca. Petit Ohl i br ment ak a ot te ‘ Abe ae ary i a SE RT Whett t it on Bo Oa rat 4 i i Pillay & bits Aas - i cP ES : aces ee = . Sen ciseailcii ets i osesereiere ou C : SF ese MS = eS ay, eet a8 Bate = S i< = | arn cee Woe be = x it. Be aS ok ts Wika lis nee HE La LG a eta Rett ae ets edly A rae Spa Petietal £1 Hat bce) ot AnH we ata ae 8 at ae 3 is aaa eg Racers + ie a ae sa “ “A a “ue. Orie ee a8 ce Ne a iat kas x - s= e325 ~ irr ie ’ nd i STRAITS BRANCH ™{? ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY] | = [Now 37] JOURNAL January, 1902 Agents of the Society: London and America. ... on 1s TRUBNER & Co. Paris Lae once ia . . “ERNEST LEROUX,& Co. Gemany _... wes .. O?Ttro HarrassowiTz, Leipzig. PRINTED AT THE AMERICAN MISSION PRESS, SINGAPORE. [No. 37] JOURNAL of the Otraits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society JANUARY 1902 Agencies of the Societies. London and America oe ee abe TRUBNER & Co. Paris ee oe ee ns ERNEST LEROUX & Co. Germany... a ... Orro HARRASSOWITZ, Leipzig. SINGAPORE : PRINTED AT THE AMERICAN MISSION PREsS 1902. Table of Contents. sO: Council for 1902 noe ae rat List of Members for 1902... ee sae tee Proceedings of Annual General Meeting Annual Report of the Council ee ace of Treasurer’s Cash Account for L900... oh mee Kelantan and my Trip to Gunong Tahan, by Mr. Sohn Waterstradt Ste as aan Sor On the Hymenoptera collected by Robert Shelford at _ Sarawak, and on the ILymenoptera of the Sarawak Museum, by Wr. P. Cameron ... Occasional Notes a THE STRAITS BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. COUNCIL FOR 1902. The Right Rev. BISHOP HOSE, President. Hon. W. R. COLLYER, Vice-President for Singapore. Dr. BROWN, Vice-President for Penang. H. N. RIDLEY, ESqQ., Honorary Secretary. Dr. HANITSCH, Honorary Treasurer, H. EscuKr, Esq,, ASW. O’SULLIVAN, Kisq., Councillors. A. KNIGHT, Hsq., LIM BOON KENG, Esu., P. J. BuRGESS, Es«., te List of Members for 1902. ANTHONISZ, J. O. Singapore. BAMPFYLDE, Hon’ble C. A. Kuching, Sarawak. Banks, J. E. U.S. A. Life Member. BARKER, Dr. Ar J. G. Sarawak, BARNARD, B. H. F. Selangor. BARNES, W. D. Penang. BICKNELL, W. A. Penang. BIDWELL, R. A. J. Singapore. 3INTARA LUAR, Hon. Dato. S.P.M.J. Batu Pahat. BrrcH, Hon. J. K, Penang. BrsHop, J. E. Pekan, Pahang. 3LAGDEN, C. O. M.A., London, England. Life M’ber. BLAND, Hon. R. N, Malacca. BOURKE, H. WALTER. Puket, Siam. Life Member, BRANDT, D. VON Singapore. BROCKMAN, E. L. Singapore. BROWN, Hon. Dr. W.. ©. Penang. BEY Awa. oP: Penang. BUCKLEY, C. B. Singapore. BURGESS, P. J. Singapore. BUTLER, A. LL. Kartoum, Egypt. CAMUS, M. de Singapore. CERRUTI, G. B. Tapah, Perak. CLIFFORD, H. C., C.M.G. Pahang. COLLYER, Hon. W. R. Singapore, CONLAY, -W. Kuantan, Pahang. Cook, Rev. J. A. B. Singapore, MEMBERS FOR 1902, DANE, Dr. R. DENT, Sir ALFRED, Druw, A. T. Dickson, E. A. DRIVER, JAMES Kk.C.M.G. DUNKERLEY, Rev. W. H.C., M.A. HOGA: Dr, P.-G. EDMONDs, Rk. © EGERTON, WALTER, C.M.G. HECGUM, J. B. ESCHKE, H. H. EVERETT, H. H. FLEMING, 'T. C. FLOWER, 5. 5. Fort, HUGH FREER, Dr. G. D. GERINI, Lt. Col. G. E. GOMES, Rev. EDWIN GRAHAM, JAMES JOHN W. HAFFENDEN, HAINES, Rev. F. HALE, A. HANITSCH, Dr. R. HELLIER, MAURICE HERVEY, D. F. A., HILL, Hon. KE. C. C.M.G. vil Singapore. London. Krian, Perak. Kwala Langat, Selangor. Kwala Lumpor, Selangor. Singapore. Ipoh, Perak. Jugra, Selangor. Penang. Singapore. Singapore. Santubong, Sarawak. Pekan, Pahang. Cairo, Egypt. Singapore, Penang. Life Member. Siam. Life Member. Sarawak. Scotland. Singapore. Penang. Kent, England. Singapore. Singapore. Aldeburgh. Life Member. Singapore, Hose, Rt. Rev. BISHor G. F., M.A.,D.D. S'pore. ‘Hon. Member. Hoss, Dr. CHARLES Hoss, Ee: anc, Sarawak. Taiping, Perak. HoyNCK van PAPENDRECHT,P.C. Rotterdam, Holland. ULE oT RoW, aA. B.S, 9 9 3 JOAQUIM, J. P., F.R.G.S. JOHNSTON, L. A. M. Singapore. Singapore. Butterworth, P. W, MEMBERS FOR 1902. vidi KirHDING, Dr. KER, J. CAMPBELL KiLoss, C. BODEN KNIGHT, ARTHUR KNOCKER, FRED. W. KYNNERSLEY, Hon. C.. W.-5., C.M.G. LAIDLAW, G,. M. LAWES, Rev. W. G. LEASK, Dr, Jeo: LEMON, A. H. LERMIT, A. W. LEWIS, J. Ee AG ee: Lim BooN KENG, Hon. Dr. LUERING, Rev. Dr. H. L.-E. LYONS, Rev. ERNEST MACHADO, A. D. MACLAREN, J. W. B. MARRIOTT, H. MASON, ~J. S. McCAUSLAND, C. F. MELDRUM, Dato JAMES. MEREWETHER, E. M. NANSON, W:.,. B.As, EiS.A. NAPIER, Hon.’ Wi. 2 Dale NORMAN, HENRY O’SULLIVAN, A. W. S. PEARS, FRANCIS PERAK Government Museum Germany. Johore Bahru. Singapore. Singapore. Ulu Berananz, Negri Sembilan. Penang. Taiping’, Perak. Port Moresby, N. Guinea. lon. M’ber. Singapore. Penang. Singapore. Sarawak, Singapore. Ipoh, Perak. Singapore. Batu Pahat, Johore. Singapore. Singapore. Raub, Pahang. Kwala Lumpor, Selangor. Johore. Malta. Singapore. Singapore. Kwala Lipis, Pahang. Singapore. Muar. Taiping, Perak. PERHAM, The Ven’ble Archdeacon England. Hon. Member. PUSTAU, R. von RANKIN, H. F. RIDLEY, H.N., M.A., F438. ROBERTS, J. A., M.A. Singapore. Amoy. Singapore. Singapore. MEMBERS FOR 1902, ROBERTS, B. G. RopGER, J. P., C.M.G. RosTapos, EK. ROWLAND, W. R. SARAWAK, H. H. The Rajah of, North Raub, Pahang. Taiping, Perak. Bundi, Trengganu. Negri Sembilan. G.C.M.G. Sarawak. Hon. M’ber, SARAWAK, H. H. The Ranee of Sarawak. SATOW, Sir EH. M., K.C.M.G. SAUNDERS, C. J. S SEA LIANG SEAH SEAH SONG SEAH SHELFORD, R. SHELFORD, W. H. SHELLABEAR, Rev. W. G. SKEAT, W. W. SMITH, Sir CECIL SoHST, THEO. SE. CLAIR, W. G. STRINGER, Hon. CHARLES SUGARS, J. C. C,, G.C.M G. IE MBEOOK, J. EH, Peking, China. Hon. Member. Singapore, Singapore. Singapore. Sarawak. Singapore, Singapore, London. London. Singapore. Singapore. Singapore. Telok Anson, Perak. Hon. Member, Ipoh, Perak. VAN BEUNINGEN VON HELSDINGER, Dr. R. VERMONT, Hon. J. M., C.M.G. WALKER, Lt. Col. B.S. F., C.M.G. WALTER, W. G. C. WATERSTRADT, J. WATKINS, A. J. W. West, Rev. BENJ, FRANKLIN WickHrT, FRED., M.1.C.R. WISE, D. H. : Woon, C..G. Tandjong Pandan, Billiton. Province Wellesley. Kwala Lumpor, Selangor. Klang, Selangor. Ternate, Dutch East Indies. Kwala Lumpor, Selangor. Singapore. Lahat, Perak. Pekan, Pahang. Batu Gajah, Perak. PROCEEDINGS of the Annual General [leeting The Annual General Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society was held on the 12th of February, 1902. There were present:—Right Reverend BISHOP HOSE, Hon’ble C. W. 8S. KYNNERSLEY, Rev. W. H. C. DUNKERLEY, Rev. W. G. SHELLABEAR, Rev. Dr. B. F. WEST, Messrs. A. W. O’SULLIVAN, H. H. ESCHKE, LIM BOON K ENG, C. J. SAUNDERS, A. KNIGHT, M. HELLIER, P. J. BURGESS. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The Right Reverend BISHOP HOSE proposed that His Excellency SIR FRANK SWETTENHAM should be elected Patron of the Society. This was seconded by the Hon. C. W. S&S. KYNNERSLEY and carried unanimously. The elections of members who had joined the Society during the previous year were confirmed. The Annual Report of the Council was read and its adoption carried, on the proposition of Mr. H. Eschke seconded by Mr. Saunders. The Treasurer’s Report audited by Mr. Knight was read, and the Rev. W. H. C. Dunkerley proposed its adoption, which was seconded by Mr, A. W. O’Sullivan and carried. Mr. Shellabear proposed that the Council be requested to take steps during the year for the promotion of the study of Malay literature and to expend a portion of the funds in hand for that purpose. This was seconded by Mr. A. W. O'Sullivan. Mr. Eschke proposed to add as an amendment by collecting and publishing manuscripts of value. The amendment was seconded by Dr. Lim Boon Keng and carried. PROCEEDINGS. xl The Council and Officers for the following year were then elected, viz :— President: The Right Rev. BIsSHoP HOSE. Vice President for Singapore : Hon. W. R. COLLYER. Vice President for Penang: Dr. BROWN. Hon. Secretary: H. N. RIDLEY, Esa. Hon. Treasurer: DR. HANITSCH. ‘Councillors elected by ballot were:—H. LEschke, Ksq., A. W. O’Sullivan, Esq., A. Een, Bed, Lim Boon Keng, Esq., P. J. Burgess, Esq. Notes of thanks were then proposed to the President, Sec- retary, Treasurer, and Auditor. Annual Report for root. The Council are gratified to be able to state that the finan- cial condition of the Society continues to be very favour- able. The following new members have been elected since the last general annual meeting :— Mr. R, A, J. BIDWELL Mr. A. W. LERMIT Dr. P, GALISTAN EDGAR REV, EH. 8. LYONS Mr. J. B. ELCUM Mr. J. A. ROBERTS, M. A. Mr. M. HELLIER Mr, J. H.-PATEOeK Mr. F. W. KNOCKER Mr. WATERSTRADT Mr. G. M. LAIDLAW Mr. F. WICKETT One journal (No. 36) has been published during the year, and material for No. 37 is in the printer’s hands. A number of journals and pamphlets from various other societies have been received during the year and added to the library of the society. It is to be greatly regretted that more material for publica- tion is not available in spite of the large number of members of the society. This deficiency is particularly uoticeable in the absence of contributions of short notes of features and occur-: rences of interest which must be frequent in and around the Malay Peninsula. A statement of accounts of the Treasurer is appended. ‘hya.0gy aywisy polio ‘YOUDLgy SPWAIS “la.tNsDat[, MAD.Louo py 06 | 066E —_ | we lg J1 | OOOT C6 | SE 3. 00¢ Iv | SOL Ig | O8 ee We Ole "1 O09 pee Sh CQ | L1é 19 | LST 5) $ “IMTTIGH “IW ae PRE purvy ul ysey) yueg o[queoieyy voueleq yurg potoqarey) Ul soue[eq ee st yueg 9819 -uvdIoyY ‘gisodaq) poxty ae ute yueg a{yueor1eyy ‘yisodaq pexty ‘S910 N USIIIOY UO FUNODSIT yueg ‘ecrysog ‘sunuiug “** Q8yf S.10999T[OF) oe AaB Be S SFO] O) oe sdeyqy oulunoyy pCa ON 409 "ce ‘ON [euanor sututiad Sserg uoIsslpy UroLIeury Ag 66 66 ce we (75 66 (a5 (73 9 06 O0G6& aouvyeg yuRg Uo 4yseroqUT SelleAodey Arpung sdepq Jo a[ee ‘OW speuamnor Jo e[eG GUI ace cee LOGI 66 ‘op 000K = “op == 2608s ‘op Es “Op “* JEQT IOy SUOIdIIOSqng is S60 weg g{yQuvodeyy ysodeaq pexty ee bar vie ayyueoleyy “Od = = 0" yueg poeleyrey) yUNOIIY JWeIIND souepe” OJ, ‘1061 ‘°08d ISIE Suipuse aeek ayzZ 10} JUNODOY YSeO S,Jainseoi yp AresOuoH re meet te ee ne rg epee pare et em gah i ee eS a ig | i mr Ae me Bir, a ral Kelantan and my trip to Gunong Tahan. By Mr. JOHN WATERSTRADT., Gunong Tahan, the supposed highest mountain in the Malay Peninsula had always a great attraction for me, ever since I had ascended the Kina Balu mountain in Borneo, situated in about the same latitude, as I wanted to compare the fauna of the former with that of the latter. However it was not. until ten years after my first ascent of Kina Balu, that I found an opportunity of undertaking the journey to Gunong Tahan. My plans for the trip had been laid long beforehand, and I had decided to take the Kelantan route in preference to that of Pahang, as several expeditions which had tried to reach the mountain by the latter route had failed, mostly I believe owing to the difficulty of obtaining food supplies. I decided to aban- don everything in the shape of comforts for this trip, taking with me only things that were absolutely necessary, and utilising all the coolies I could get for carrying provisions. Leaving Singapore towards the end of April in a small coasting steamer, I arrived in Kelantan four days later, the steamer calling at most of the ports along the coast, on the way up. The mouth of the Kelantan river is on the map given as farther south than it really is, but that entrance has long ago sanded up, and ships have now to enter by the northern entrance. Lately a fairly good light house has been erected by the Siamese, and a Slamese gunboat is always stationed there. Owing to the shal- lowness of the river all steamers are obliged to anchor just inside the bar, behind a sand. spit that affords good shelter ; and passengers and cargo are taken up to Kota Bahru in small native boats. Kota Bahru, the capital of Kelantan, is situated about eight miles from the mouth of the river, on the right bank of the same, and contains according to the Rajah’s account, about 20,000 inbabitants, The town consists really of two villages; Based KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. one of them called Taratchin, is divided from the other by a branch of the river, and is chiefly inhabited by Chinese. Form- erly nearly all the business was done in this place, but the ever changing river silted up just there, and now nearly all business “is transacted in the native town, a little farther up river, where there is deep water close in to the bank. The Rajah at the insti- gation of the Siamese is now making fairly good roads in every direction through the town. Just before I arrived, there had been a tremendous fire in the Chinese village, half of which was burned down one night, when most of the inhabitants were attending a féte given by the Rajah on account of his marriage with the Rajah of Singora’s daughter; and a number of young children who were left alone in the houses were burnt to death. The Rajah used this opportunity to make a broad street right through the whole village, where there formerly had been only narrow crooked paths. During my stay in Kota Bahru, before going up stream, I was the guest of the Siamese Commissioner and was introduced by him to the Rajah, who immediately offered to provide me with boats and men for the trip up the -river, The present, Rajah is a young man of about thirty-five years, and owes his position to the Siamese, who on the death of the old Rajah installed him as such, in preference to the rightful heir, on the supposition that he would conform to their wishes. So far the Siamese have interfered very little in the internal affairs of Kelantan, keeping only a Commissioner there, who acts as a sort of adviser to the Rajah, and a small garrison; but signs are not wanting that they want to get a more direct con- trol of affairs, and probably before very long Kelantan will be to all purposes, except in name, a Siamese province. The Rajah’s palace is just in the middle of the town, and every forenoon from about 10 to 1 o'clock he holds his court there, afterwards going for a drive out to his villa, that he has built in a garden outside the town. I visited him there oie afternoon, and found workmen everywhere building cages for wild animals, and the Rajah told me he intended to start a small Zoological Garden there. It was the dry season when I arrived in Kota Bahru and the heat was very intense, the thermometer seldom going below 100° in the daytime and 90° at might. The Kelantan river, KELANTAN AND GUNONG 'PATLAN. 3 which in the rainy season often overtlows its banks, was now nearly dried up, so we had great difficulty in getting up stream with the three large house boats that the Rajah supplied for me and my men. The river is about 250 yards wide at Kota Bahru, and continues to be about the same width up to Sungie Lebeh, which river falls into the Kelantan river from the right, thirty to forty miles up stream. The banks of the river up to Quala Lebeh are pretty thickly populated, and are lined with coconut groves most of the way. It took us four days to reach Quala Lebeh, as we had only one gang of men to pole the boats, and consequently had to stop at night. I decided to try first to get to Gunane Tahan by the Lebeh river, as that, according to my idea, was the nearest way, and we therefore proceeded up that river for another day, when the rapids were reached, and we had to stop, as it was impossible to get our heavy boats over them. : On the way up the river we had passed a number of bamboo rafts, with small huts built on them, either moored along the banks, or drifting slowly down stream. .They were inhabited by Malays from Kota Bahru, who go up stream to trade or to plant paddy, and prefer living on the river rather than ashore. Wheu therefore a suitable place is found, these people make a raft and build a hut thereon, wherein they live until they have traded away or exchanged all their goods for jungle produce, whereon they drift down stream with their barter or their paddy. Just below the rapids a number of these rafts were moored, forming a floating village on the river; and as I had to. wait there some days before I could get smaller boats to take me up river one of these huts was given up to me, and I dis- charged the three large boats and sent them back to Kota Bahru, as they were of no further use to me. I had to wait a week at this place before I got smaller boats and other men, to take me further up river, and in the meantime, I and my col- lectors that I had brought with me from Borneo, did a little collecting ; but the species found there were of little interest being the same as are found everywhere in the low land of the Peninsula. At last we got away again in three smaller boats, all heavily loaded ; and for the next few days we had a very rough oe KELANTAN AND GUNONG (TAHAN. job pulling the boats over the rapids, of which the river was full. We had to stop at each village we passed on the way, to get fresh boatmen, as none of these would go any farther with me than to the next village, and this continual stopping and changing men delayed us a good deal. On the third day Quala Aring was reached ; and as it was my intention to go up that river, we had again to wait to procure still smaller boats, but we soon managed to get six of these and plenty of men, so were able to proceed the next day. Itwas at Quala Aring that the Skeat expedition stopped, while Mr. Skeat went across to Pahang and tried to get up the Tahan from that side, but failed, I believe owing to want of provisions, the same as Messrs. Ridley and Davidson before him. The river Aring is of course much smaller than the Lebeh, and is full of rapids, but it was not very difficult to get the boats over them. I counted them several times, and found that on an average we passed over about ten of them an hour the whole way up. There are very few people living on this river, there being only one village of- any size, about three days up stream, so I had not to stop on the way to change men, as those from the Quala took me right up to that village. The village is called Buntie, and is the last inhabited place in Kelantan, sol had to halt there to get to- gether coolies and to find out the best way of ascending the mountain, of which I got a good view away to the southward on clear days. ‘The natives there called it Gunong Siam. There is plenty of game to be had round the village, as there are lots of old clearings, where deer and pigs are plentiful, and tigers are also found in numbers. On the very first day I stayed there, while out collecting butterflies close to the house, I heard a noise in the thick low jungle close by, resembling the purring of a cat, only louder, but took no notice of this until a couple of Malays came running after me telling me to come back at once, as there was a tiger quite close by. As I had then about forty Malays with me I wanted them to go into the jungle and drive the tiger out into the open, a distance of not more than twenty or thirty yards, where I could get a shot at him ; but though they wereall armed with spears and I offered them some of my guns also, they were afraid of doing SO, and I did not geta sight of the brute though he stayed in that KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN, 5 thicket not. 150 yards from the house the whole day. On my return from the mountain however [I got him, as he had just then killed a buffalo, and came back in the afternoon to have another meal. About a day’s journey to the westward of the village at an- other tributary to the Lebeh river, called Sungei Aring, was situated a small encampment of Sakais and as I wanted these men to show me the way to the mountain, I got the headman of: the village to send word to them to join me at once. ‘The whole tribe of Sakais living there are considered to be the pro- perty of a Malay living half way up the Aring; and this man brought all the full grown men to me a couple of days later. There is only this one settlement of Sakais in this part of the country, whereas there are said to be thousands of them living up the Ulu Kelantan river. ‘Those that I had with me (ten or eleven men), were all remarkably strong and healthy looking, and were not so much troubled by skin diseases as is usually the case with the Sakais. After getting all the information I could: about the Gunong Tahan or Gunong Siam, I decided to follow the Aring as far as it was possible to go with the native boats, and then strike across country straight for it. We therefore loaded the provisions in eight or nine small dug’-outs, and went up stream with these, most of the coolies following us along the bank. After going on in this way for a couple of days I found it im- possible to get any farther with the boats, as the river was get- ting too small, and the boats had continually to be hauled over trees that had fallen across the river and barred the passage. We therefore stopped at a small tributary called Sungei Tamu, and while my Malays made everything ready for the march in- land, I sent the Sakais in the jungle to cut a path for us along the bank of the Tamu, which I had ‘decided to follow seeing that it seemed to come from the direction that I wanted to take. The Sakais came back in the evening of the same day and _re- ported having found an elephant track, which they had followed up a high ridge, and.they were of the opinion that by following this track we should reach the foot of the mountain. They had come up with the elephants about half way up the mountain, there being seven of them, but as there were no tuskers amongst them, they had not fired on them, and the elephants continued 6 KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN, their journey to the top of the ridge and then disappeared down the other side. We halted two days while the different packages were divided amongst the coolies. The rest of the provisions which we could not take with us were hoisted up in a high tree, for fear of the elephants getting at them, and well covered with mats to protect them against rain, and then we started. In the beginning we got on very well, the ground ris- ing gently the whole time, but as we got higher up on the spur, walking became more difficult, and we had to catch hold of roots and branches to help us in getting up, and had it not been for the deep footprints made in the soil by the elephants it would have been nearly impossible for the coolies to get up with their heavy burdens. I reached the top of the ridge, which proved to be about 3500’ high, about noon, together with a few of my Borneo men and a couple of Sakais, and wanted to proceed along the comb of the ridge, which was running in the direction I wanted to take, but the Sakais insisted on our going down the slope on the other side, as they said we should find no water near the top; so I had to give in, and we went down about 1000’ till we came to a tiny stream, where I decided to camp for the night. I had not taken any tent with me, but my men soon made a shelter with some large palm leaves, some three feet broad and seven feet long, which we found growing in abundance in altitudes from 500’ up to 4500’. None of the other coolies reached our camp that night, and next morning we went farther down the slope till we reached a stream, which the Sakais declared to be the Sungei Tahan, and waited there until all the coolies had arrived. From the river bed we got a fine view of a mountain, that I judged to be about 5000’ high, stand- ing straight up and looking very formidable and inaccessible with a magnificent waterfa]l near the top. The natives declar- ed that this mountain, which was not more than 2 miles distant, was part of Gunong Tahan, the higher part of which was shut out from sight by the high ridges running parallel with the river. We followed up the river for some time, but it was very difficult climbing and when we had reached an altitude of 2500’ the coolies declared that they would not go any farther, so I had to make my camp there. Most of the coolies then returned to their villages; but I kept the Sakais and my collectors with . KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 7 me, and with these I ascended to the top of the mountain that we had seen from the river. The ascent was however so diffi- cult, that it was impossible to carry anything with us, and we had therefore to return to our old camp every night. Especial- ly the last 500’ proved to be very difficult to negotiate, as there was a sheer wall of rock about 300’ in height, down which the Tahan river come thundering, forming the splendid waterfall that we had seen from the bottom, and which I christened the Lama Falls. After several failures we at last found a way to the top of the falls and were then confronted by two peaks, nearly inaccessible, and the river seemed to wind its way in be- tween them. We tried to follow up the river, but soon had to stop, on account of huge boulders and deep pools, with sheer walls on each side, making it impossible for us to get through; so _we had to give it up, and attempted instead to scale the least forbidding looking of the two peaks. . In this we succeeded at last, only to find however the top involved in thick mist, so that it was impossible to see anything and to ascertain whether we were really on a spur of the Tahan range or not. As it was impossible to stay up there for the night without any food or shelter, we had to return to our camp, my intention being to get up there again early the next day and have a good look at the surrounding country before the clouds commenced to gather round the mountain tops, as they always do in the afternoon. In the night however I got an attack of fever and was unable to walk for some days, so I sent my men up to try and find out the whereabouts of Gunong Tahan, and they returned with the information that the mountain that we were on was in no way connected with the Tahan, which they said they had seen a long way to the westward, but according to them it wouid be impossible to get up that mountain from that side, as we were separated from it by a deep chasm, which ran along for many miles, with sheer walls of rock on the other side, up which they declared it impossible for anybody to get. The Sakais stated that they had seen another river coming near- ly from the top of the mountain, and this they took to be a branch of the Galas-river, another. tributary of the Kelantan river ; and they strongly advised me to go back, and try to get up the mountain by that route, As they absolutely refused to 5 KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN, follow me when I wanted to try and get up from where we were, I had to give it up, though I myself believed it to be pos- sible ; and, as after events showed me, it proved to have been the easiest and nearest route to the top. However I made up my mind to return to Kota Bahru and get up another expedition up the Galas river; so I returned to the village Buntie with a few of the Sakais, leaving the rest of them together with my Malays and all our provisions on the mountain; as we had found a number of rare birds there, and I was desirous of getting some more of them. I told my men that they must try and find an easier way to Tahan, and if they succeeded in this they were to wait for me near the top of the mountain. I may as - well mention here that some time after I left, my men did find a way up Gunong Tahan, and stayed there for some time waiting for me; but 1 never met them, as it took mea much longer time to get up the mountain by the Galas route than I expected, and so at last they returned down towards the coast by the same way as they got there. The trip back to Kota Bahru occupied ten days, and I had to wait there another month before I got new provisions and materia] up from Singapore for my next ex- pedition. When these at last arrived a new start was made but this time I got rather a poor lot of boatmen, the Rajah having lent most of his best men to Messrs. Duff and Lathyen who went up stream just before me to prospect for gold. It therefore took me six days to get up to Quala Lebeh, and there [found the above gentlemen busy prospecting the river bed, having with them a great number of coolies. This time I went past Quala Lebeh, following the true Kelantan river, and in four days reached QWuala Galas, where we were detained a short time, owing to the river being in flood. We passed several small tributaries on the way, most of them being uninhabited, being the Rajah’s rattan preserves. Once in five to six years he farms each of these rivers out to some of the Chinese traders in Kota Bahru, who then collect all the rattans and other jungle produce, and after that nobody is allowed to touch anything for the next five to six years, thus giving the rattans a chance of growing to a fair size before they are again cut down. We then proceeded up the Galas, which a short distance from its Quala is only about 50 yards wide, and gets narrower farther up, and full of rapids. There KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 9 are a number of small villages on its banks, from which I obtained relays of boatmen, those I had with me from Kota Bahru having by this time all got fever, or were at least pretending to have. As we got farther up, the river got very shallow, and I had to leave the big boats behind, and go on in small dug-outs. We passed a few Chinamen on the way, washing gold, and they told me they could make about 75 cents a day, when working hard. At other places where the Chinamen were working farther inland, they had dammed up the river to obtain sufficient water, causing us a lot of trouble, as we had to unload the boats before we could haul them over these obstacles. At last the village of Pulai was reached, and there I had to stop, aS it was impossible to proceed any farther by boat. ‘The village contains a couple of hundred inhabitants, nearly all Chinese, there being only a few Malay traders there, who occa- sionally come up from Kota Bahru and stay there a month or two, until they bave have bartered all their goods away for gold. Formerly all the Chinese living there were gold miners, but now that all the gold-bearing sand in the river bed has been washed over and over again and the returns are getting less, many of them have settled down as agriculturists and have large paddy fields all round the village. Formerly there must have been a much larger Chinese population in these parts, as traces of very large alluvial workings are found up nearly all the small creeks, being now overgrown and covered with dense jungle. At present there are only a couple of Chinese Kongsis working on anything like a large scale, and I believe they are doing fairly well. Lode working has also been tried by the Malays, but though the ore obtained was of very good quality they seon gave it up, the work proving too hard for them. The formation of the country about there is mostly hard blue lime- stone which crops through everywhere, the hills in some places ris- ing to a considerable height, mostly impossible to ascend owing to their steep or overhanging walls. All these limestone hills are full of caves and passages made by the water in bygone days, and in places some very curious dripstones* are formed, the best specimen of which is found in a cave close to the village, about *Stalagmites ? e- 10 KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN, 100’ up in a hill, and the Chinese, on account of this bearing some resemblance to one of their deities, formerly used it as a temple, and there is still an old rotten table up there with some candlesticks full of burned joss sticks, and remains of half- burned paper. It has however not been used for a long time, and the ladders that led up to it have long since rotted away, so I had to climb the face of the rock to get up; but I should not recommend anybody to try that experiment, unless he is a good climber. My men that were with me looked at it, and decided that it was safer to stop at the bottom; so I let them remain there, while I went up with a young Malay who had been up there once before. ‘lhe Chinese are rather afraid to go near these limestone hills as they say that the tigers use the caves as sleeping apartments, and this is very likely, though I never found traces of them in any of the many caves that I visited, whereas I found plenty of traces of elephants in the larger caves that were level with the ground, and the Malays told me that these animals often made them their homes for months at a time. The floors of the caves were often strewn with the remains of dead and broken snail-shells, which had fallen down from the roof in the dry season, when most of the snails die. However I also found a number of live shells hidden away in the dark and moist crevices of the rock, among them several new and rare species. Most of the snails have a great liking for limestone rocks, and the collector will find more speci- mens in one hour on these rocks than in the jungle for one month. From the top of some of these cliffs I got a good view of the surrounding country, but I looked in vain for a mountain that looked anything like 10,000’ high. Towards the Kast were two mountain ranges which I supposed to be about 6,000’ high, the natives calling the most northern Gunong Siam, and the other Tulang Rabong. Gunong Siam appeared to be slightly higher than the other, and the Malays stated that this was the same mountain that the Malays of Pahang called Gunong Tahan. I did not believe this possible, but seeing that the people on the Aring river also called Tahan the Gunong Siam, I decided to ascend the mountain to make sure of it. I had great difficulty in obtaining any coolies to go with me owing to the rivalry KELANTAN AND GUNONG TAHAN. 11 between two of the native chiefs, and had at last to be contented with eight Pahang Malays; so we were only able to carry provi- sions with usfor tendays. The first part of the road lay through fairly flat country and we had no difficulty in cutting a path through,—going northeast by the compass, for none of the Malays had been in that part of the country before. At night we camped on the banks of a fairly large river, which proved to be the Kateh, a tributary of the Galas ; and next day we followed this up till we got into the hills, passing an old deserted mining camp on the way. We only had one glimpse of the mountain on our journey, though we climbed several hills to obtain a good view, but always found other hills in front of us obstruct- ing the view towards the mountain. That night we also camped on the banks of the river, which here reaches an altitude of 800’ above sea level, the men making a rude shelter of palm leaves, under which we slept undisturbed, though we that day had come across several tracks of tigers. Next day we started up a ridge which we thought sprung from the mountain, but when we at last reached the top of it 2500’ up, it proved to be separated from the mountain by another branch of the Kateh river, and so we had to climb down again on the other side. The descent proved to be very difficult, especially the last 300’ to 400’, and I have no idea how the coolies came down, as each man chose his own way over the face of the cliffs, where over- ‘hanging boughs and roots afforded the only support for lower- ing oneself.