Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Early next morning we started after breakfast, carrying blankets and provisions, as we in-
tended to sleep upon the mountain. After passing a little tangled jungle and swampy thickets
through which our men had cleared a path, we emerged into a fine lofty forest pretty clear of
undergrowth, and in which we could walk freely. We ascended steadily up a moderate slope
for several miles, having a deep ravine on our left. We then had a level plateau or shoulder
to cross, after which the ascent was steeper and the forest denser till we came out upon the
'Padang-batu,' or stone field, a place of which we had heard much, but could never get any
one to describe intelligibly. We found it to be a steep slope of even rock, extending along the
mountain side farther than we could see. Parts of it were quite bare, but where it was
cracked and fissured there grew a most luxuriant vegetation, among which the pitcher plants
were the most remarkable. These wonderful plants never seem to succeed well in our hot-
houses, and are there seen to little advantage. Here they grew up into half climbing shrubs,
their curious pitchers of various sizes and forms hanging abundantly from their leaves, and
continually exciting our admiration by their size and beauty. A few coniferæ of the genus
Dacrydium here first appeared, and in the thickets just above the rocky surface we walked
through groves of those splendid ferns Dipteris Horsfieldii and Matonia pectinata, which
bear large spreading palmate fronds on slender stems six or eight feet high. The Matonia is
the tallest and most elegant, and is known only from this mountain, and neither of them is
yet introduced into our hot-houses.
It was very striking to come out from the dark, cool, and shady forest in which we had
been ascending since we started, on to this hot, open rocky slope where we seemed to have
entered at one step from a lowland to an alpine vegetation. The height, as measured by a
sympiesometer, was about 2,800 feet. We had been told we should find water at Padang-
batu, but we looked about for it in vain, as we were exceedingly thirsty. At last we turned to
the pitcher-plants, but the water contained in the pitchers (about half a pint in each) was full
of insects, and otherwise uninviting. On tasting it, however, we found it very palatable
though 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
