Opening RemarksAuthor(s): Joseph HutchinsonSource: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 161, No.982, A Discussion on the Results of the Royal Society Expedition to North Borneo, 1961 (Nov.17, 1964), pp. 2-3Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/75407 .

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Opening remarks

BY SIR JOSEPHr HTTCHINSON, F.R.S.

School of Agriculture, Cambridge

(Chairman of the North Borneo Expeditions Committee)

First, I should like to say a word about the objects of the expedition. These were threefold. The most important one, of course, was to study an area of very great biological interest. The second was our belief that such a study would be of sub- stantial aid to the Government in the plans which we understood they were making for the establishment of a National Park in the Mt Kinabalu region. This, I am glad to say, has in fact turned out to be the case. Our third object was to enlist the help of scientists living and working in that region in a co-operative enterprise in the

hope that we might establish a tradition of scientific study of natural resources

among the research and teaching staff of the Universities in the region. This again we were able to achieve in some measure and we hope to continue our co-operation in the next expedition.

The expedition was led by Mr E. J. H. Corner, F.R.S., of the Botany School of

Cambridge, and he was accompanied by Mr G. P. Askew of Newcastle, who took

charge of the soil science investigations, and by Mr J. A. D. Stainton, who acted as

photographer as well as a botanist. Mr Corner was also joined in the botanical work

by Dr Chew Wee Lek from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Professor J. L.

Harrison, from the University of Singapore, was with the expedition for part of the time and studied small mammals and their parasites. Mr B. E. Smythies, Con- servator of Forests in Sarawak, who is a prominent ornithologist, also spent some time with the expedition. The expedition was visited by interested people working in North Borneo, and this contributed substantially to the development of local

understanding of the value of the area and of the scientific work that was being done in it.

Today we are looking forward to discussing the results of the expedition in the context of our knowledge of the geology, botany and zoology of the region in which Mt Kinabalu lies. We are extremely fortunate in having with us Professor van Steenis, Director of the National Herbarium, Leiden, Editor of the Flora Malesiana, one of the greatest systematic works ever planned. -He is a botanist with 30 years experience in the Far East, where he devoted much of his time to the

special study of the Malaysian mountain floras. Professor Holttum will talk to us about the ferns of the area. He was formerly Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens: he has had over 30 years experience of the Far East and has himself visited Kinabalu. He is an authority on ferns and has identified the ferns collected on the expedition. Mr Forman, botanist on the staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in charge of the Malaysian section, has identified the flowering plants collected by the expedition, and will speak to us on a new and important genus of trees which he has described from this material.

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Opening remarks Opening remarks

Turning to geological matters, we are fortunate in having Dr Roe, the Director of the Overseas Geological Survey, to tell us from his many years of field experience something of the geological relationships of Sarawak and North Borneo. Dr Collenette has written a paper for us on the geology of the Kinabalu area, but he is not able to be here and the paper will be read by Dr Fitch, the Director of the

Geological Survey of Sarawak and North Borneo, who will also contribute from his own extensive field experience. Mr Askew is here today and will speak on the results of his soil studies on Kinabalu. Mr Smythies has written a note on the birds of Kinabalu and this will be read by Mr T. Harrisson, of the Sarawak Museum, who is himself an expert ornithologist and has a wide knowledge of the natural history of the Borneo region.

Commentary on the general results

BY E. J. H. CORNER, F.R.S.

Botany School, Cambridge

The importance of Mt Kinabalu was made known to science by the civil adminis- trator Hugh Low, after his historic ascent in 1851. Many expeditions have

followed, using the western approach along paths made by the native people. The

Royal Society Expedition can claim to be the first to have broken entirely new

ground by making its own path through unknown and uninhabited country. The

path went up the east ridge from 1800 ft., under high forest all the way to 1 000

ft., then along a broken, more or less forested ridge to 11000 ft., where precipices stopped progress. However, Mr Askew by a detour went on to some 12 000 ft., but our target of the pinnacle region between the east ridge and the summit could not be attained. Then the expedition made the first east to west traverse of the Pinosuk

Plateau, which is a tract of small-leafed forest at 4000 to 6000 ft. in the south-east

bay of the mountain. We concentrated, therefore, on the mid-mountain forest, which is, as usual on tropical mountains, the least known. For the first time, too, on such an expedition we had a soil scientist. Mr Askew studied in particular soil variation with altitude, which is a matter of first importance in the detailed

understanding of vegetational zonation. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the results of the expedition. A general

account of the expedition will be published shortly in the Proceedings of the Linnean

Society of London. The Society, I would remind you, published Stapf's masterly analysis of the mountain flora in 1894, and the account of Miss Gibbs's expedition in 1914, which was the last botanical description of Kinabalu. Our account has been greatly assisted by a grant from Council which has made possible the re-

production of a large number of new photographs of the mountain. I-2

Turning to geological matters, we are fortunate in having Dr Roe, the Director of the Overseas Geological Survey, to tell us from his many years of field experience something of the geological relationships of Sarawak and North Borneo. Dr Collenette has written a paper for us on the geology of the Kinabalu area, but he is not able to be here and the paper will be read by Dr Fitch, the Director of the

Geological Survey of Sarawak and North Borneo, who will also contribute from his own extensive field experience. Mr Askew is here today and will speak on the results of his soil studies on Kinabalu. Mr Smythies has written a note on the birds of Kinabalu and this will be read by Mr T. Harrisson, of the Sarawak Museum, who is himself an expert ornithologist and has a wide knowledge of the natural history of the Borneo region.

Commentary on the general results

BY E. J. H. CORNER, F.R.S.

Botany School, Cambridge

The importance of Mt Kinabalu was made known to science by the civil adminis- trator Hugh Low, after his historic ascent in 1851. Many expeditions have

followed, using the western approach along paths made by the native people. The

Royal Society Expedition can claim to be the first to have broken entirely new

ground by making its own path through unknown and uninhabited country. The

path went up the east ridge from 1800 ft., under high forest all the way to 1 000

ft., then along a broken, more or less forested ridge to 11000 ft., where precipices stopped progress. However, Mr Askew by a detour went on to some 12 000 ft., but our target of the pinnacle region between the east ridge and the summit could not be attained. Then the expedition made the first east to west traverse of the Pinosuk

Plateau, which is a tract of small-leafed forest at 4000 to 6000 ft. in the south-east

bay of the mountain. We concentrated, therefore, on the mid-mountain forest, which is, as usual on tropical mountains, the least known. For the first time, too, on such an expedition we had a soil scientist. Mr Askew studied in particular soil variation with altitude, which is a matter of first importance in the detailed

understanding of vegetational zonation. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the results of the expedition. A general

account of the expedition will be published shortly in the Proceedings of the Linnean

Society of London. The Society, I would remind you, published Stapf's masterly analysis of the mountain flora in 1894, and the account of Miss Gibbs's expedition in 1914, which was the last botanical description of Kinabalu. Our account has been greatly assisted by a grant from Council which has made possible the re-

production of a large number of new photographs of the mountain. I-2

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