Recollections of Cameron’s Highlands and Fraser’s Hill
J.B. Scrivenor, a Government geologist and surveyor, published this memoir in 1931 to correct the geographical confusion surrounding the naming of Cameron’s Highlands and to record his personal experiences at both Cameron’s Highlands and Fraser’s Hill from first visits in 1904 and 1906 through the late 1920s. The article’s central argument is that the area now called Cameron’s Highlands was never actually seen or described by W. Cameron, and that the true first European penetration of the Ulu Bertam plateau above the Robinson Falls was achieved by H.C. Robinson and C. Boden Kloss in 1908, not by Cameron, Leonard Wray, or F. St. George Caulfeild as commonly supposed.
Summary
The article opens by untangling a chain of geographical errors that led to the misnaming of the highland plateau. W. Cameron, a Government surveyor, published a letter in 1885 describing a journey from the Ulu Kinta into Pahang, ascending Gunong Challi and describing “pamah” (plateau) land in what he identified as the Telom Valley. After Cameron’s death around 1889–1890, an exaggerated estimate of the extent of “Cameron’s Land” took hold. Leonard Wray’s 1888 expedition, published in the Journal of the S.B.R.A.S. (1890, No. 21), compounded the confusion: Wray believed he had found Cameron’s old camp and track on the Bertam, mistaking it for the Telom, and was further misled by Sakai guides who told him Cameron’s route lay farther north. F. St. George Caulfeild’s 1904 expedition from Tapah repeated the error, mistaking the Sungei Ulam (a Sakai name) for the Telom and mapping a small area along the Bertam as “Cameron’s Land.” The intervening country between the Bertam and the true Ulu Telom was simply unknown—no maps existed, and the difficulty of overland travel (requiring a sea detour from Taiping to Tapah) meant the error went uncorrected for decades. Scrivenor draws an analogy to Einstein’s relativity: two observers in different valleys, unaware of the terrain between them, assuming they occupied the same space.
The narrative then shifts to Scrivenor’s own expeditions. His first visit, in December 1906 with H.C. Robinson, reached Lubok Tamang but did not penetrate above the Robinson Falls. The pivotal 1922 expedition—Robinson, Dr. H.P. Hacker (Medical Entomologist), W.M. Sands (Economic Botanist), Scrivenor, and A.C. Twyford of the Survey Department—finally mapped the land above the falls, which they named “Tanah Rata.” Scrivenor records the naming of Robinson Falls, Rhododendron Hill, Myrtle Hill, and Parit Falls during this trip, and defends these English names against a 1925 local newspaper editorial that stigmatized them as “puerilities.” He also documents the area’s remarkable botany (a “fish-less paradise” with abundant wildflowers, mossy ridge jungles, and no fish above the falls) and its practical advantages as a hill station (abundant water, gentle contours, cool climate) against its one great drawback: enclosing hills that shut out all views of the lower country.
The Fraser’s Hill section is briefer and more nostalgic. Scrivenor traces the hill from L.J. Fraser’s tin-mining operations (land acquired 1894, ore collected from Chinese working on tribute in the Yet and Sempam valleys) through the Sempam Tin Mining Company’s tenure from 1909, its fatal dispute with the Raub Australian Gold Mines over tailings, and the eventual transition to a hill station when the Pahang Government purchased the Company’s house. He contrasts the two stations: Cameron’s Highlands is valley-land with superb flowers but poor views; Fraser’s Hill is perched on steep ridges with magnificent panoramas but a poor water supply.
Key Findings
- W. Cameron’s letter of 4 September 1885, quoted in Sir George Maxwell’s Federal Council Paper No. 13 (1925), describes a journey from the Ulu Kinta ascending Gunong Challi; the view from Challi of the Ulu Bertam is shut out by Gunong Irau and Gunong Batu Berinchang, proving Cameron could not have described the area now bearing his name (pp. 2–3).
- Leonard Wray’s 1888 expedition (published J. S.B.R.A.S. 1890, No. 21, pp. 123–165) mistakenly identified the Bertam as the Telom and reported finding Cameron’s camp and elephant tracks; Scrivenor argues the tracks were made by wild elephants converging on the riverbank, and that Sakai guides deliberately misled Wray to please him (p. 3).
- The first Europeans to penetrate the Ulu Bertam above the Robinson Falls were H.C. Robinson and C. Boden Kloss in 1908, whose objective was Gunong Irau and who reached the slopes of Gunong Batu Berinchang (Jour. F.M.S. Museums iv, 1909, p. 1–4); Kloss has no memorial to this discovery (p. 3).
- The 1922 expedition camped at Lubok Tamang from 18 to 27 August, moved to the foot of Robinson Falls, and established the “Tanah Rata” camp on 31 August; the farthest point reached was a tree on a spur of Gunong Batu Berinchang, from which Scrivenor sketched the Ulu Telom valley and peaks including Pass, Challi, Siku, and Mt. Swettenham (pp. 4–5).
- The Bertam at Tanah Rata is approximately 20 feet broad and contains no fish; the absence is attributed to the Robinson Falls acting as a barrier to upstream migration and floods sweeping downstream fish (p. 5).
- Fraser’s Hill development covers about two square miles of houses and roads; the Sempam Tin Mining Company (managership of Gerald Bowen from 1909) was forced to cease operations after a tailings dispute with the Raub Australian Gold Mines, and the Pahang Government subsequently purchased the Company’s house as the nucleus of the hill station (pp. 9–10).
Conclusion
Scrivenor’s definitive takeaway is one of historical correction: the name “Cameron’s Highlands” is a geographical error born of pre-modern cartographic ignorance, and the true discoverers of the plateau—Robinson and Kloss—deserve recognition that history has not afforded them. Beyond this, the article serves as a baseline record of both hill stations in their formative decades, documenting the transition from jungle tracks and Sakai paths to graded roads, rest houses, golf courses, and developed gardens, and offering a comparative assessment of their respective strengths and limitations as residential hill stations.
Context
- Scrivenor was a Government geologist and surveyor employed in the Federated Malay States; his role in the 1922 expedition was geological survey and mapping (using a prismatic compass and Abney’s Level), and he was the author of the 1922 report on the Ulu Telom area (p. 4).
- The article draws on Sir George Maxwell’s Federal Council Paper No. 13 (1925), Leonard Wray’s 1890 paper, Cerruti’s My Friends the Savages (1908), and R. Henderson’s 1927 plant list (J. M.B.R.A.S. vol. v, part ii), alongside the author’s own field sketches reproduced as Plates II–IV.