rather warm, and we all quenched our thirst from these natural jugs. Farther on
we came to forest again, but of a more dwarf and stunted character than below;
and alternately passing along ridges and descending into valleys, we reached a
peak separated from the true summit of the mountain by a considerable chasm.
Here our porters gave in, and declared they could carry their loads no further;
and certainly the ascent to the highest peak was very precipitous. But on the spot
where we were there was no water, whereas it was well known that there was a
spring close to the summit, so we determined to go on without them, and carry
with us only what was absolutely necessary. We accordingly took a blanket
each, and divided our food and other articles among us, and went on with only
the old Malay and his son.
After descending into the saddle between the two peaks we found the ascent
very laborious, the slope being so steep, as often to necessitate hand-climbing.
Besides a bushy vegetation the ground was covered knee-deep with mosses on a
foundation of decaying leaves and rugged rock, and it was a hard hour's climb to
the small ledge just below the summit, where an overhanging rock forms a
convenient shelter, and a little basin collects the trickling water. Here we put
down our loads, and in a few minutes more stood on the summit of Mount
Ophir, 4,000 feet above the sea. The top is a small rocky platform covered with
rhododendrons and other shrubs. The afternoon was clear, and the view fine in
its way—ranges of hill and valley everywhere covered with interminable forest,
with glistening rivers winding among them.
In a distant view a forest country is very monotonous, and no mountain I have
ever ascended in the tropics presents a panorama equal to that from Snowdon,
while the views in Switzerland are immeasurably superior. When boiling our
coffee I took observations with a good boiling-point thermometer, as well as
with the sympiesometer, and we then enjoyed our evening meal and the noble
prospect that lay before us. The night was calm and very mild, and having made
a bed of twigs and branches over which we laid our blankets, we passed a very
comfortable night. Our porters had followed us after a rest, bringing only their
rice to cook, and luckily we did not require the baggage they left behind them. In
the morning I caught a few butterflies and beetles, and my friend got a few land-
shells; and we then descended, bringing with us some specimens of the ferns and
pitcher-plants of Padang-batu.
The place where we had first encamped at the foot of the mountain being very
gloomy, we chose another in a kind of swamp near a stream overgrown with
Zingiberaceous plants, in which a clearing was easily made. Here our men built
two little huts without sides that would just shelter us from the rain; we lived in