Article

Mountains

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Mountains

Mountains of the Malay Peninsula and Borneo

Mountains in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo have served as sites of scientific discovery, colonial administration, indigenous cosmology, and economic exploitation since the mid-nineteenth century. The region’s peaks range from the granite coast ranges of the western peninsula to the towering volcanic mass of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, and from the quartzite summits of the Main Range to the sandstone plateaus of Sarawak. Across the archival record, mountains emerge not merely as physical features but as contested spaces where colonial science, indigenous knowledge, and economic ambition intersected. The literature documents a progression from initial attempts to measure and name these peaks, through intensive natural history collecting, to the recognition that mountains were also repositories of spiritual significance and practical resources.

Geological Framework and Height Determinations

The earliest systematic geological characterisation of the peninsula’s mountains appears in J.E. Tenison-Woods’s 1884 letter to Nature, which described Perak’s geology as comprising three principal formations: an immense granite mass rising into sharp, nearly meridional ridges; a Palaeozoic formation of slates, mottled sandstones, and clays at the foot of the ranges; and limestone in detached outliers of precipitous character [1, pp. 137]. Tenison-Woods catalogued the western mountain groups from south to north—the Dindings Islands, Gunong Bubu (5,600 ft), Mount Ijau (4,400 ft), the Kurau Group, Mount Inas, Kedah Peak, and the Kinta Ranges—before turning to the Main Range, where he identified a peak over 8,000 feet and Gunong Robinson at over 7,000 feet, and noted unconfirmed reports of a summit exceeding 12,000 feet [1, pp. 141–142].

Height determinations proved contentious. R.M. Little’s 1887 ascent of Kinabalu yielded an aneroid reading of 11,312 feet at the summit gap, which he revised to 11,562 feet for Victoria Peak—over 2,000 feet lower than the previously accepted 13,698 feet [2, p. 17]. This correction stood until later surveying work. Similarly, H.J. Kelsall and H.N. Ridley’s 1894 expedition to Gunong Tahan revised the mountain’s commonly cited height of 14,000 feet downward to 8,000–10,000 feet based on direct visual observation [3, p. 46]. J.B. Scrivenor’s 1912 account, drawing on the Surveyor-General’s determinations, established Gunong Tahan at 7,186 feet, surpassing Gunong Riam’s 7,160 feet and overturning the earlier belief that Riam was the peninsula’s highest peak [4, p. 8].

Scrivenor’s geological argument represented a significant advance in understanding the peninsula’s structural geology. He identified the Main Range as the exposed granite core of a great anticline, with the Benom Anticline running parallel to it. Gunong Riam’s summit, composed of phyllites and quartzite as first noted by de Morgan in the 1880s, preserved a remnant of the stratified “lid” that once covered the granite, indicating that denudation had not yet cut deeply into the core. Gunong Tahan, by contrast, belonged to a different structural category: it formed part of the quartzite and conglomerate belt at the junction of the Main Range Anticline and the Benom Anticline [4, p. 15]. W.D. Barnes’s 1903 survey of Gunong Benom confirmed the massif as an isolated granite intrusion with no visible igneous connection to the Main Range, and noted the contrast between sedimentary rocks on the eastern side and the igneous character of the western side [5, pp. 9–10].

Little’s 1887 account also proposed a two-eruption model for Kinabalu’s formation, citing lava specimens collected by Resident Davies and his own 1886 find on Mallawalli Island, examined by Mr. A.H. Everett, as evidence that Borneo had been volcanic [2, pp. 17–18]. Tenison-Woods, writing on the peninsula, recorded only two known occurrences of recent volcanic rocks—basaltic dykes in the Kinta Valley and near the Karau River—preventing proper examination due to dense jungle and surface weathering [1, p. 138].

Natural History and Botanical Surveys

Mountains proved to be critical sites for documenting the region’s biodiversity, particularly at elevations where distinct altitudinal zones created isolated communities of flora and fauna. H.N. Ridley’s 1900 account of Gunong Jerai (Kedah Peak) provided the first published description of the mountain’s ascent and flora, recording upwards of fifty orchid species, of which eight were peculiar to the range, and three new species: Xyris Ridleyi, Hedychium collinum, and Utricularia involvens [6, pp. 27–29]. Ridley’s comparative framework benchmarked the mountain’s vegetation against that of Mount Ophir and the Lankawi islands, arguing that Gunong Jerai’s flora was “typically Malayan” and bore no trace of the distinct northern flora found on Lankawi, which had a closer relation to Tenasserim [6, p. 30].

The upper montane zone of Gunong Jerai, beginning at approximately 2,000 feet, exhibited a sudden shift in vegetation character—smaller, more slender trees, dense orchid and fern cover, and open grassy patches—along with conifers (Dammara orientalis, Dacrydium elatum, Podocarpus cupressinus) and a striking white Rhododendron of about twelve feet [6, p. 28]. Tenison-Woods had earlier observed the presence of Australian genera (Melaleuca, Leptospermum, Podocarpus, Leucopogon) exclusively on granite ridges above 5,000 feet in Perak, a phenomenon he had not previously seen recorded in the Malay peninsula and which he speculated may represent relics of an ancient flora once extending across the Eastern Archipelago [1, p. 138]. J.E. Tenison Woods’s 1884 ascent of Gunong Bubu confirmed this pattern, recording summit vegetation including Leptospermum flavescens and Leucopogon—both of Australian affinity—alongside Nepenthes, Rhododendron, and a coniferous tree tentatively identified as Dacrydium elatum [7, pp. 279–280].

In Borneo, R. Hanitsch’s 1899 expedition to Mount Kinabalu yielded six new taxa to science, including two new genera: Oreocalamus hanitschi (a new genus of snake) and Glaniopsis hanitschi (a new genus of homalopteroid fish), along with new species of gecko, toad, and freshwater crab, all from elevations between 2,100 and 4,200 feet [8, pp. 67–85]. Hanitsch also documented the altitudinal zonation of amphibian species from the coast to 4,200 feet, and corrected Mocquard’s earlier parasitism hypothesis regarding the ventral suckers of Rana cavitympanum tadpoles in fast-flowing streams [8, pp. 63–66]. R.S. Shelford’s 1900 expedition to Mount Penrissen (4,800 ft) in Sarawak presented a contrasting picture: while the invertebrate fauna was exceptionally rich, the vertebrate assemblage was strikingly depauperate, with only two species of monkey observed and no game birds, pigs, deer, or kijang [9, p. 8]. Shelford attributed this to intensive indigenous gun-hunting, estimating that approximately 60 per cent of the Dyaks in the district were armed with guns and conducted prolonged foraging parties before every harvest feast [9, p. 8].

Ridley’s 1903 botanical catalogue from Gunong Benom listed approximately 80 plant species collected at the summit, including several new to science: Linociera lancifolia, Diplycosia lancifolia, Dendrochilum angustifolium, and Loranthus tetragonus (new to the Peninsula), along with Pachynocarpus Stapfianus with flowers, previously known only in fruit from a single Scortechini specimen [5, pp. 10–18].

Colonial Administration and Indigenous Cosmology

Mountains were not merely objects of scientific study but active sites of colonial consolidation and indigenous spiritual practice. Little’s 1887 journey to Kinabalu served as an administrative instrument of colonial consolidation: at each settlement along the route he heard cases, settled a Rungus Maragang blood feud rooted in the 1884 Rambatuan massacre, arranged poll-tax payments, and performed the friendship ceremony involving a buffalo sacrifice, the planting of a treaty stone, and the hoisting of the British North Borneo flag [2, pp. 7–8]. The Dusun chief Malagup demanded a fowl and seven eggs as a sacrifice to the mountain spirits before the guides would proceed; when the summit attempt was abandoned, the guides returned the fowl to Hanitsch, who cooked it [8, pp. 52–55].

The 2015 earthquake of magnitude 6.0 near Mount Kinabalu, which killed 18 climbers and guides, provided a dramatic illustration of the mountain’s continuing spiritual significance. J.J. Baptist and Cai Yunci documented the Monolibabou consultation ritual and Tumabur cleansing ritual conducted by the Lotud people of Kampung Bantayan, Tuaran District, to appease the mountain’s guardian spirits [10, pp. 61–78]. Within the Lotud cosmological system, the physical and spiritual realms exist in parallel and must be kept in balance; immoral or disrespectful behaviour in the physical world—here, the widely publicised incident of Western tourists posing nude on the sacred peak—renders the spiritual world too “hot” (alasu), requiring ritual intervention (sogit) to restore coolness and equilibrium [10, pp. 62–66]. The Monolibabou consultation, conducted on 13 June 2015, established contact with the seven named guardians of Mount Kinabalu (Gunsangod, Singkarad, Rangkai, Liso, Rongko, Tanggung, and their leader Raja Gugur) [10, pp. 66–71]. The subsequent Tumabur cleansing ritual on 16 June 2015, lasting five hours with nine tantagas (ritual priestesses) and one libabou (spirit medium) participating, was accompanied by mudflows in the foothills that forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people, which the ritual specialists interpreted as the physical manifestation of impurities being flushed from the mountain to the sea [10, p. 74].

D.F.A. Hervey’s 1879 account of Gunong Blumut recorded the Benuak creation myth in which the mountains of Blumut, Chimundong, and Bechuak are the oldest land, raised by the deity Pirman after the world was destroyed by a flood, and in which the first human pair emerged from a floating prahu of pulei wood [11, pp. 105–106]. The Dato at Pengkalan Teba identified the Blumut group as the oldest land and the axis of the earth’s stability, with Gunong Ledang, Kap, Tongkat Bangsi, and Tongkat Subang as the northern anchors [11, pp. 105–106].

Economic Dimensions

The mountains of the region were integral to the colonial and pre-colonial economies. Tenison-Woods observed that tin in Perak was exclusively stream tin (cassiterite), found in strata one to five feet thick at the lowest drift levels, with the matrix in upper granite at its junction with Palaeozoic clays; the deposits were “practically inexhaustible,” and the mining industry was almost exclusively in Chinese hands [1, pp. 137–138]. The mountain system’s structure—detached groups of parallel ridges separated by narrow passes—meant that the Perak River flowed southward for over 180 miles, collecting the Plus and Kinta from the east, and that the entire system prevented any drainage from the central range reaching the west coast directly [1, p. 141].

In the interior of British North Borneo, copper cents were the principal currency; small silver coins were accepted with distrust, and even the chief Malagup did not know their value. Kerosene oil, soap, and matches were the most requested trade goods [8, p. 63]. John Waterstradt’s 1901–1902 expedition to Gunong Tahan documented the village of Pulai on the Ulu Galas, which contained a couple of hundred inhabitants, nearly all Chinese, who had transitioned from gold mining to paddy cultivation as alluvial returns diminished; Chinese miners reported earning approximately 75 cents per day [12]. Scrivenor proposed in 1912 that Gunong Tahan’s open plateau-land at 4,000–5,000 feet elevation, abundant water, and relatively flat terrain made it superior to existing cramped hill stations, and he suggested a funicular railway connection from an extended Pahang Railway line [4, p. 12].

Research and Documentation

The Society’s literature on mountains reveals a clear evolution in both methodology and purpose across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The earliest accounts—Hervey’s 1879 trip to Gunong Blumut and Tenison Woods’s 1884 ascent of Gunong Bubu—were characterised by the integration of natural history, ethnography, and geographical survey within a single narrative, reflecting the polymathic expectations of colonial-era fieldwork [7], [11]. These early papers were explicitly commissioned by colonial administrators: Tenison Woods’s expedition was undertaken at the request of Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak [7, p. 275], and Hervey’s account was read before the Society’s predecessor body in Johore [11].

By the 1890s, a more specialised approach emerged. Ridley’s botanical surveys of Gunong Jerai and the Tahan valley, and Hanitsch’s entomological and herpetological work on Kinabalu, reflected the growing division of labour between field collectors and metropolitan specialists. Hanitsch’s collections were distributed among Boulenger for reptiles and amphibians, Borradaile for crustaceans, Sharp for insects, de Niceville and Shelford for Lepidoptera, and Edgar Smith for molluscs [8, pp. 66–85]. This collaborative, networked model of colonial natural history—field collectors in the tropics depending on regional and metropolitan authorities for formal identification—was standard practice [9, pp. 8].

The turn of the century saw the emergence of geology as a distinct analytical framework. Scrivenor’s 1912 article represented a qualitative shift: rather than documenting a single ascent, he used his observations to advance a structural interpretation of the peninsula’s orogenic framework, positioning his work within the emerging body of colonial-era geological survey literature [4, p. 15]. Barnes’s 1903 account of Gunong Benom, produced as part of the F.M.S. Trigonometrical Survey, similarly combined practical surveying with geological and botanical documentation [5].

A notable tension runs through the literature between the colonial scientific project of measurement, classification, and extraction, and the indigenous frameworks of spiritual significance and practical knowledge. The recovery of Sir H. Low’s 1851 bottle and St. John’s 1858 tin from the summit of Kinabalu in 1887 provided a material thread linking three decades of Western engagement with the mountain [2, pp. 20–21], while the 2015 earthquake and its ritual aftermath demonstrated that the mountain’s spiritual dimensions remained as potent as its geological ones [10]. The precarious state of Lotud ritual knowledge—fewer than twenty living tantagas and libabou remaining, with religious conversion and urbanisation eroding the social conditions that sustain these practices—underscores the urgency with which the Society’s later documentation efforts approached the intersection of mountains and indigenous cosmology [10, p. 76].

MBRAS Sources

References

  1. J.E. Tenison Woods (2020). Physical geography of the Malayan Peninsula (1884 JMBRAS 93(1): 137–142.
  2. R.M. Little (1887). Report on a journey from Tuaran to Kiau and ascent of Kinabalu Mountain JSBRAS 19: 1–25.
  3. H.J. Kelsall and H.N. Ridley (1894). Account of a trip up the Pahang, Tembeling, and Tahan rivers, and an attempt to reach Gunong Tahan JSBRAS 25: 33–65.
  4. J.B. Scrivenor (1912). Gunong Tahan and Gunong Riam JSBRAS 62: 8–21. Read on JSTOR
  5. W.D. Barnes (1903). Notes on a trip to Gunong Benom in Pahang JSBRAS 39: 1–18.
  6. H.N. Ridley (1900). A botanical excursion to Gunong Jerai (Kedah Peak JSBRAS 34: 23–30. Read on JSTOR
  7. J.E. Tenison Woods (1884). Journey to the summit of Gunong Bubu JSBRAS 14: 275–285. Read on JSTOR
  8. Hanitsch R (1900). An expedition to Mount Kina Balu, British North Borneo JSBRAS 34: 49–88. Read on JSTOR
  9. R.S. Shelford (1900). A trip to Mt. Penrissen, Sarawak JSBRAS 33: 1–26.
  10. J.J. Baptist and Cai Yunci (2016). Mount Kinabalu earthquake JMBRAS 89(1): 61–78. Read on JSTOR
  11. D.F.A. Hervey (1879). Atrip to Gunong Blumut JSBRAS 3: 85–115.
  12. J. Waterstradt (1902). Kelantan and my trip to Gunong Tahan JSBRAS 37: 1–27. Read on JSTOR