I led the way up the rock by a most difficult ascent, and after climbing these perpendicular precipices by means of the roots of trees, at length reached easier ground, but found the whole mountain a mass of honeycombed limestone rock, with trees scattered over the uneven surface, whose roots penetrated to an immense distance below. I endeavoured, by descending into the deep fissures, to find some water, and in doing so, traced a root above two hundred feet; it then entered a narrow crevice, too small to admit me; the root was still larger than my arm. As there is no real soil on the mountain, this fine vegetation must derive its support from the air, the moisture in the thick moss, and the rotting leaves which sometimes lay in tangled damp masses, almost decayed into a black mould. We climbed about a thousand feet, but found no streams or pools, and were therefore compelled to descend. On our return to the Capital, we had the misfortune to lose my boat on a snag, and had a three days’ walk in the jungle through difficult sandstone mountains, and then we constructed a raft and floated down the river, till we met the Orang Kaya Panglima Prang, whom I had sent for relieving boats. In February, 1858, Mr. Low and I again attempted the ascent of Molu, taking the Orang Kaya Panglima Prang as our guide, though neither he nor any one else knew more of the mountain than they had gathered during my former journey. On the sixth day we reached the entrance of the Madalam without difficulty, and brought up for the night on a bank of gravel and pebbles, where there were traces of coal among the hard gray sandstone nodules, and broken quartz. All the country we had hitherto seen belongs to the Labuan coal measures, and the dip is steep, about 45°, and is to the east of north. In the evening, heavy rain came on, when the river began to rise rapidly, and rush by us with a strong current. The men had pitched their tents on the pebbly bank, while we stayed in the boats; we had had a heavy day’s work, and our followers were so fatigued that they fell asleep immediately. The rain continued pouring down. About two hours after sunset I heard a shout, and found the water was overflowing the tents, and rushing down the opposite side of the river like a mill sluice, carrying along with it huge trunks of trees. With extreme difficulty we awoke the men, and it was a work of greater difficulty to keep them from getting into the boats before they were properly secured. I jumped out, and soon discovered the reason; the water coming from the lofty heights of Molu was icy cold; my teeth chattered so that I could scarcely give an order, and the river rose so fast, that very soon it was impossible to remain on the bank.