The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

III.] MALACCA AND MOUNT OPHIR. 25stunted character than below ;and alternately passing alongridges and descending into Aalleys, we reached a peak separatedfrom the true summit of the mountain by a considerable chasm.Here our porters gave in, and declared they could carry theirloads no further ;and certainly the ascent to the higliest peakwas veiy precipitous. But on the spot where we were therewas no water, whereas it was well known that there was aspring close to the summit, so we determined to go on withoutthem, and carry with us only what was absolutely necessary.We accordingly took a blanket each, and divided our food andother articles among us, and went on with only the old Malayand his son.After descending into the saddle between the two jDeaks wefound the ascent very laborious, the slope being so steep asoften to necessitate hand-climbing. Besides a bushy vegetationthe ground was covered knee-deej) with mosses on a foundationof decaying leaves and rugged rock, and it was a hard hour'sclimb to the small ledge just below the summit, wdiere an overhangingrock forms a convenient shelter, and a little basincollects the trickling water. Here we put down our loads, andin a few minutes more stood on the summit of Mount Ophir,4,000 feet above tlie sea. The top is a small rocky platformcovered with rhododendrons and other shrubs. The afternoonwas clear, and the view fine in its way— ranges of hill andvalley everywhere covered with interminable forest, with glisteningrivers winding among them. In a distant view a forestcountry is very monotonous, and no mountain I have everascended in the tropics presents a panorama equal to that fromSnowdon, while the views in Switzerland are immeasurablysuperior. When boiling our coffee I took observations with agood boiling-point thermometer, as well as with the sympiesometer,and we then enjoj^ed our evening meal and the nobleprospect that lay before us. The night w-as calm and verymild, and having made a bed of twigs and branches over whichwe laid our blankets, we passed a very comfortable night. Ourporters had followed us after a rest, bringing only their I'ice tocook, and luckily we did not require the baggage they leftbehind them. In the morning I caught a few butterflies andbeetles, and my friend got a few land-shells ; and we thendescended, bringing with us some specimens of the ferns andpitcher-plants of Padang-batu.The place where we had first encamped at the foot of themountain being very gloomy, we chose another in a kind ofswamp near a stream overgrown with Zingiberaceous plants, inwhich a clearing was easily made. Here our men built twolittle huts without sides, that would just shelter us from therain ; and we lived in them for a week, shooting and insecthunting,and roaming about the forests at the foot of themountain. This Avas the country of the great Argus jiheasant,and we continually heard its cry. On asking the old Malay to