Acta Neerlandica 13
(2016)– [tijdschrift] Acta Neerlandica–
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd
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Diary
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are very fond of shark's flesh. On hearing a remark made about the diversities of a shark's living, they protestingly asserted that no fish ever eats man; only the crocodile does. [...] In presence of so opposite convictions, the best thing in low grounds is to stick to the shower bath, and also do at a river side. ‘Sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugens.’
15th May. - To Bengkoka River: 3 hours, 8 miles; main direction, E.N.E. No village. Our to-day's performance was no improvement on that of yesterday. We crossed the Upper Bengkoka at a point to the south of Mandurian, the village alluded to on the 9th inst. Here, on the right bank, we had to stop long before nightfall, as the next village, Toyon, takes a whole day's travel. The reason that kept us at the side of the river was the want of water between this and Toyon. To-morrow we shall have to carry our supply in bamboo-pipes as if we had to cross some arid plain, and yet we shall move through a luxuriant forest, as we did this morning. This is the region pronounced by a professional planter to be the Ceylon of the future. He may be right, though he passed his judgement on a distant view (from the mouth of the Tandek River). The ground between this and Tandek rises along our route to 900 feet; its maximum is scarcely two hundred feet higher, and is confined to the ridge forming the watershed between the direct drainage to Marudu Bay and that to the Bengkoka River. The remainder undulates between 200 ft. and 450 ft. and is moderately sloped and well watered. The Tankalanan is a tributary of the Tandek; along it led the first part of our track. On the Tandek side the alluvial plain comes to an end near Kalimo; 200 feet is the elevation of the Bengkoka bed above the sea, or twice as much as at the point we reached on the 9th instant. The vegetable detritus is on an average one foot and a half thick, a brown friable mould; the subsoil is disintegrated sandstone. The growth very dense; trees of more than three feet girth are scare. None of the industrial plants are known to grow hereabout in a wild state. The Bengkoka River, forty yards wide, could in time of floods be ascended thus far, but the current must be very strong then. A clearing indicates the site of former Dusuns village. The people evidently found themselves between two fires, through visitors both from Bengkoka and Bongon, for they retired to some uninviting mountain-top and only show themselves on market-day. We passed one market, held in the bed of the Tankalanan. | |
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We spent the night camping al fresco. The leaves of wild plantains would have afforded a roof in case of rain; but, although wished for, it did not come. Thus we kept walking all night, slapping at mosquitos. We had made a large fire, just as if we were in a Hungarian plain at winter-time, trying to keep the wolves off. But the mosquito is an undaunted brute.
16th May. - To Penenian: 1 ½ hours, 2 ½ miles; main direction, S.S.E. Penenian: 3 houses, 6 families; Sungao. To Toyon: 3 hours, 4 ½ mile; main direction, S.E. Toyon: 7 houses, 21 families; Limbo. The tract we have entered is decidedly hilly. From the Bengkoka River we rose to 1,350 feet in a steep pitch, and then, from a comparative clearing, we could see that there are four different ridges in the east, with their main axis running north and south. Further north they seem to converge, or rather they must do so. The village of Penenian is situated a little to the north of the path to Toyon. We called at it in quest of fresh water. Penenian is a little community of Mamagun Dusuns. They live a quiet existence on the rice and vegetables they grow, on the fowls they rear, and never bother themselves about india-rubber and the outer world. Ascending from Penenian to the south-eastward, we came through a heavy timber forest. On the road to Toyon the highest level above sea was 2,300; Toyon is situated at 1,800 feet. Kinabalu bears from here due S.W. In the vicinity of Toyon is Liput. We are now in the Sonzogon country, the source of nearly all the Guttah that finds its way over to Marudu. When emerging from the thick forest, what a burst of landscape! How the mountains crowd towards the peninsula! A coffee-planter would find it worth while to examine it. He could select his elevation up to 3,500 feet, and the Bengkoka offers water carriage. The forest is partly the same growth as on the range between Tambunan and Papar. The soil is very porous. At Toyon er met Sherif Abdulah, a nephew of Sherif Sea, who goes in for guttah percha. The Marudu Sherifs are essentially exporters of that produce. The stuff is collected, dressed, and sold by the Dusuns, and carried by serfs of the Sherifs to the sea. The export is capable of a large increase, on which subject I shall report separately. By the way, I may remark the system of bondage exercised by these Sherifs is very hard. The Dusuns here call themselves Namagun, but by outsiders they are given the name Sundaya. They received us well. Their old man is blind. | |
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He said to me, ‘I have never seen a white man's face, and I cannot see yours, but I am glad to hear you talk our tongue.’
17th May. - To Tesapong: 3 hours, 6 miles; main direction, E.N.E. Tesapong: 7 houses, 12 families; Siderinka. To Tinaan: 1 ½ hours, 3 miles; main course, S.S.E. Tinaan: 7 houses, 2I families; Si Binka. The ridge along which we are moving connects those mentioned before; we already passed two of them. The slopes are steep. No water is to be had for miles. There is no higher animal life noticeable in consequence. The rainfall, during the other seasons, must be copious. That is shown by the presence of Guttah plants. We travelled seven miles more through timber forest. The soil is, as stated, open and porous, almost no signs of surface drainage; the gullies are at this season all overgrown. Whenever a spring occurs on the hillside there nestles a village close by, but villages are few and far between. This comparative paucity of water applies by no means to the valleys. Departing from the road to Tinaan, we paid the people of Tesapong a visit. Siderinka is their head man. In fact, we only came to see Siderinka, who is known for his remarkable intelligence; and we left pleased and satisfied. Around Tinaan a considerable space is under cultivation, while with the other villages the planting grounds lie at a distance. These people live on the Dioscorea bulb, but they grow rice for sale. The grain is not to be had at a short notice: our hosts were busy during the night in husking the padi for our consumption. The Bajows coming from the coast only buy the padi for the sake of a trifling profit, and to give their women at home something to do.
18th May. - To Mandayo: 3 hours, 8 miles; S.S.E. Mandayo: 5 houses, 15 families; Lonti. To Paluwayo: 2 houses, 4 miles; main direction, S.S.E. Paluwayo: 4 houses, 12 families; Minampul. The country traversed to day is watered by the Sonzogon rivulet, an affluent to the Bengkoka. A dense jungle instead of timber forest. In it we saw both the Guttah creeper and the Guttah tree. The latter, a Sapotacea, yields the stiff variety known in the Singapore market as Guttah kras, or Guttah merah (Gutta percha). From the former, representing Roxburgh's ‘urceola elastic’, is obtained the Guttah lichak, or Guttah susu, the Indiarubber proper, I believe. It is a pity that these Dusuns cut down the tree just as they do the creeper. They extract the milk by a number of circular incisions from eight inches to one foot apart. I shall enquire in what way | |
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they bring about the solidification of the liquid. The milk of the urceola we found snow white, but of little consistency at the time. The stem in question was one foot in diameter, and but recently tapped. Among the Dusuns to the south of Kinabalu a fine is imposed for cutting a tree down; at the Upper Kimanis the offender has to pay a buffalo. As guttah collecting gradually comes under the practical control of the Company's officers, a sort of jungle-conservancy might be established with advantage. Thus, the collectors ought to be taught the American (Para) method. Dusuus are a tribe open to sensible advice. The rock here is sandstone. In the Sonzogon we found nothing but crabs. This to the delight of our men, who are very keen on them. I should here refer back to the survey of Marudu Bay. The formation there has been ascertained as of sandstone almost throughout. But I omitted then to mention that the metamorphic rocks near Tartipan are exceptional. It will be remembered that for their blackish appearance the natives had taken it for ‘smoke-stone’ (batu asap, i.e., coal) and brought samples to Tampassuk. At Mandayo we halted during the hot hours, and here at Paluwayo we shall stay over night. The Paluwayo is a torrent; it discharges itself into the Sonzogon. Here we have a continuous waterway to the sea; but, except the main portion of it, the Bengkoka river, it is as good as useless, and therefore the rattans from this district will never be an article of export. Of beeswax, at the proper season, there is much to be had. The same is collected ‘when the padi ripens and the rains subside’. Aristoes, when teaching men the management of bees, gave the Dusuns a lesson too, but their domestic lives are yet capable of improvement. As to Camphor, the numerous trees mostly belong to the sterile species.
19th May. - To Palin: 2 hours, 5 miles; main direction, S.E. Palin: 5 houses, 20 families; Mintoi. In the jungle we came through to-day we saw trunks of the guttapercha tree having a girth upwards of six feet and nearly a hundred feet in height. One of them seemed to overbridge a crevice. We halted at Palin, the last viliage in the Sonzogon country. Theae Dusuns have the peculiarity of pronouncing the yo, ya as zo, za. But much more peculiar is their indifference to the use of salt. A brine-spring in the vicinity of Palin is scarcely ever resorted to, and they never give anything for salt brought to them from the coast. This applies to the whole Sonzogon people, who live, as already stated, on sweet potatoes and water. The returns for their | |
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rice and guttah they hoard up in the darkest recesses of the bush, consisting of brass in every conceivable shape that is the only thing tbeir heart is set on. Mount Kaidanigan of the geographical maps is not known under such name either here or on the coast. There is a rivulet, Kaindangan, dischargeing itself to the north of Paitan. Over the position ‘Kaidangan’ we travelled yesterday afternoon. There we were 2,000 feet above the sea, but the point was not conspicuous among its surroundings. At present I am unable to guess which mountain top may first have caught an eye in the offing, of importance enough to have heen charted as ‘Kaidangan’. The mountain described from Tankal (Bongon River), in N. 106 (?) E., and called by the Dusuns there ‘Palin’, corresponds, generallv speaking, to the tract of Palin we find ourselves in now. When, three days ago, we were nearing Toyon we had a glimpse of blue water. The bearings of an island answered to Teegabu (south from Mallawalle)
20th May. - To Waigan: 5 hours. 10 miles; S.S.E. Waigan: 14 families, 7 houses; Lundi. To-day we covered the worst part of a road which was painted to us in a discouraging light. That was the passage of Nipis Nulu, about midway from Palin to this place, Waigan. Nipis Nulu is the top of a cone, of which (through consecutive landslips) just enough is left to allow a footpath between two precipices. One of these falls off perpendicularly to a depth of perhaps 500 feet. Of the top the natives assert that, in a strong wind, it oscillates, reminding one of the celebrated rocking stones of Cornwall. But in this case there is no such phenomenon present. We found its height, by Boiling Poing, to be 2,446 feet above sea. Palin and Waigan are situated at 1,230 and 840 respectively. The vegetation is timber forest, but not so open as that we passed through of late. Sugar-cane attains here an extraordinary thickness. It is grown for immediate consumption. I am not aware of Dusuns ever crushing their sugar-cane: that is done in these parts by the Illanuns only. The Dusuns have no name either for molasses or sugar, but they call it the same as honey, ‘Paha’. We are now two days' travel from Tinagas, and twenty miles, as the crow files, from the mouth of the Paitan, and to the S.W. of it. However, not even the head branches of the Paitan - the Beribi and Sikumpit - extend so far into the country as our present position. The Paitan is, in fact, a small river, whatever its economical importance may be. | |
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Waigan is inhabited by Tambonuas (see Marudu, diary 8th and 9th inst.). On our arrival here we learn that the village is tabooed for their having taken physic all round. We should, in consequence, have camped in the open, but an amicable arrangement was brought about; the fowl of homage came forward, and ultimately they husked more rice on our behalf than we could possibly carry off.
21st May. - To Beribi: 1 ½ hours, 3 miles; S.W. by W. Beribi: 4 houses, 8 families; Lampang. To Lumasag: 2 ½ hours, 5 miles, W. Lumasag: 5 houses, 10 families; Mulud. To Katahanan: 1 ½ hours, 3 miles, S.W. Katahanan: 2 houses, 12 families. To-day we moved westward for the first time since leaving Bongon. We shall now draw nearer Kinabalu, which has hitherto been a sort of pivot to our journey. Of the villages, BeribiGa naar voetnoot1 and Lumasag there is nothing particular to remark. The two rivulets of the same names are tributaries to the Likabao, which in turn falls into the Sugut. The range crossed yesterday divides the drainage towards Bengkoka and Sugut. We are now in Upper Likabao, at Katahanan, which consists of a couple of houses; the inmates are Dusuns. The Likabao Valley is here pretty distinct, while other depressions in the whole tract, beginning from Bengkoka, are scarcely traceable in anything like continuous lines; numerous transverse ridges occur. The villages are situated in basins with steep sides, of sometimes not more than a score of acres extent. South-east from here rises the Menopod mountain, about 3,000 feet high, an object of superstitious dread. For lovers of pork it may be mentioned that these people keep their pigs penned up, fattening them in a regular way, and removing thus an offensive point in Dusun husbandry.
22nd May. - To Tinagas: 10 hours, 16 miles; S.S.W. Tinagas: 8 houses, 24 families; Trinkan. In approaching the Sugut, the country is well watered; the jungle is beautifully dense, and the road through it abominable. Of the rivulets crossed, and partly travelled in, the Longom and the Kavilian belong to the Melinzao, which flows past the village Tinagas and is received by the Sugut on its left shore. The main stream is still some distance off, but the district of Tinagas extends on both sides of it. Tinagas is visited by the | |
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Sulu traders. The inhabitants barter jungle produce of every description for salt, cloth, brassware, pottery, and miscellaneous articles. At Likabao a small Chinese settlement is said to exist. The Chinamen do business principally in the rubber line. Likabao can be easily reached by ascending the Sugut. We, on our part, shall next look to the country between here and Mokodao, the eastward point of our route in November last. Our visit then was reported to these people; and the character we were given as paying for everything we got serves as an introduction now. By guide returning to Bongon I shall report our further programme to Mr. Everett.
23rd May. - Gave the men one day's rest. From here Mentapok is distinctly visible; its highest top bears due south. The easternmost of four prominent peaks is the highest; the distance may be from thirty to forty miles. When at Kiawawi we only saw that one peak, the axis of the mountain, running East and West, apparentlyGa naar voetnoot2. But when descrying from the height behind Morali three pinnacles in the S.E. quarter, they belonged to the very same Mentapok. The bearings were drawn on the respective sheet of the former route survey. It really seems as if this mountain was hidden from every point of on the coast. Its name in Malay, not in Dusun, means ‘to hide’. The Dusuns here, as at Kiawawi, call it alike - Mentapok. The mountain towers above the surrounding country. But I no longer think it equal in height to Kinabalu - the unmeasured Kinabalu.
24th May. - To Tanid: 2 ½ hours, 7 ½ miles; W.S.W. Tanid: 16 houses, 50 families; Kindao. To Nolumpis; 4 hours, 6 ½ miles; S.W. by S. Nolumpis: 3 houses, 12 families; Golungong. In the diary of November last, I stated that the tribes to the east of Kinabalu surpass those nearer to the west coast in a physical respect. And here I notice the splendid heads of hair of the male population. Their hair is mostly three feet long and is worn tied up in a knot behind when at work on the tramp, but when at ease it is loosened. It is a curious sight to see a number of men combing each others hair and forming a chain in doing so. But their hair is by no means so thick as to support the theory of an improvement of the Dusun race by a mixture of Chinese blood. Men and | |
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women alike wear the neck spiral, and the former also a closely fitting spiral around their biceps. As a tribe the Tinagus Dusuns are ‘Mamagun’. The land between Tinagas Proper and Tanid Proper is for the greater part abandoned planting ground, now overrun with long grass and scrub. But the long grass is shorter and also in other respects different from Lalang (Antropogon). The fields bear sweet potatoes intermixed with a little Kiladi (caladium), and, where the ground is but moderately inclined, the tobacco plant is seen in its bloom. There are as yet no preparations made for dressing the rice fields. The slopes are on the whole gentle; we even enjoyed a level walk for nearly one mile. Such a treat we had not known these last eight days. The Tanid rivulet flows into the Melinzao; near it stands one village, Tanid, which is now being deserted. The next village, on fresh land, is situated westward by two miles and next to the main stream Sugut, properly spelled Sugud. Between the two places occurs the brooklet ‘Tamas’, which made us enquire whether the origin of such name was due to the presence of gold. The Dusuns said ‘Tamas’ in this case means nothing. We had soon occasion to test their sincerety, for on being given silvered fancy chains they innocently asked whether the silver be ‘Tamas’. The rock here is sandstone; the vegetable mould is less sandy than in the forest region from which we have emerged. At Tanid a regular cornucopia of rice, vegetables, tobacco and sirih leaves was emptied upon us. I could, to my great satisfaction, hear the Dusuns of Tinagas, and Tanid as well, speak of the ‘Tuan Gobernur’, of Sandakan (Mr. Pryer), and express their confidence that he would assist them against the Islam folk. That is a purely instinctive trust on their part which bids fair for the spread of the Company's influence in the upper country. A low ridge separates Tanid from the river Sugud. The Sugud here comes from the west and makes a sharp turn to S.S.W. The two reaches visible scarcely exceed the length of a mile. The inundation part of the bed is now high and dry, and the discharge per second, at a mean velocity of 4½ feet, amounts to 5,000 cubic feet. During the rains it may be six times as much. It also must be remembered that many considerable feeders debouche below Tinagas. The river is navigable as far as this even during the present comparative drought. Its course from here to the sea may be computed at between 200 and 250 miles; in this distance the river falls no more than 575 feet from its present level, which should imply a moderate current and a very serpentine flow. No rapids are said to occur. | |
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The depth is, where we crossed, 2½ fathoms. The rock of the bed is sandstone, but the gravels are a mixtum compositum of trap, loose blende, serpentine, and granite. On the left shore we ascended at once to 1,165 feet, and found Nolumpis 805 ft. above the sea. From that point we saw nothing of the Sugud, having pursued a S.S.W. direction, while the river seems to take, after the junction of its head waters, a northerly sweep.
25th May, -To Kagasingan: 4 hours, 9 miles; S.W. Kagasingan: 10 houses, 60 families; Landao. To Kirokot: 2 hours, 5 miles; S. by W. Kirokot: 4 houses, 30 families; Gumpas. About these head-waters, the Kopunkan and Mokodao, something was said in the record of our November journey. The object of our revisiting the Mokodao was to connect the then route-survey with the present one. To effect that we travelled to Kagasingan, a village in a district of the same name, situated above the junction, and on the Mokodao branch. Here we easily identified the peak of Pinosduan as that of Lansat. That was quite enough for our purpose. The peak in question was, during our former journey, wrongly pointed out as that of Lansat, and was under that name put down on the map. Kagasingan is on the 117th degree longitude E. - the meridian that one may say divides the Company's territory into two halves. The position is, therefore, well fitted to start from when striking, as we propose to do, a southerly course through the innermost inferior. Between Nolumpis aud Kagasingan the country does not rise to more than 1,100 feet. It is mostly covered with old forest, and well watered. On the fields around Kagasingan the Nicotiana strikes the eye most. Badly cured, it yields a good second class tobacco. The people of Kagasingan received us in a friendly way; and when we asked for guides to Kirokot, they came forward, on condition that they might be back in time for a wedding that was to come off that night; thus both parties were satisfied. Towards Kirokot we traversed almost level ground-fields and scrub. Three cases of fever and one swollen leg. Some of my companions are getting thin.
26th May. - To Lansat: 3 hours, 7 ½ miles; W.S.W. Lansat: 7 houses, 40 families; Gariug. We tell the people that our next object is to intersect the Linogu River somewhere to the east of Danao. There being no track from Kagasingan-Kirokot to that river, we had to travel to Lansat, situated W.S.W. from | |
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Kirokot, and but a few miles east of Lasas (see November diary). On the road we obtained a good view of the country to the east of Kinabalu. There we could see how Kinabalu appears perfectly covered by the mountain of Molong Kolong to an observer posted at Mituo- Kugasingan - covered in a manner so as to let Molong Kolong be mistaken for Kinabalu itself, and thus giving the main mass an apparent extent of many miles to the eastward. In fact, it puzzled us during our former journey, when, owing to the rainy season, the outlook was rather limited. The result was that we charted Mituo a couple of miles to the S.S.W. of its actual position; but that is soon corrected. Another circumstance to which I want to call attention is the position of Kinabalu itself. The same as given on the Admiralty Chart (sheet 2,660) is evidently wrong. If the point thereon is meant for the highest pinnacle, disregarding the whole top of from four to five miles extent and of almost uniform height, then the point of that shaded cone will be better placed five miles to the S.S.E. from where it stands now (on the Admiralty Chart). That is proved by bearings from points on the coast that are fairly determined, and that struck me during former journeys. In the present instance, approaching the mountain from the east, the predisposition of our senses would rather place it further from us; but in reality Kinabalu is found to be much more to the S.S.E. as stated above. Lansat is situated on the right bank of the Morali River, a considerable affluent to the Mokodao-Sugut. The rock hereabout is serpentine. Between Mokodao and Lansat the country is almost flat, and on an average 1,000 feet above the sea. In the course of an afternoon and an evening we made close friends with our hosts. These people are peaceful, sober, and tattooed. Headhunting has become obsolete among them. The crania collected in former times seem but little honoured, for they are kept in baskets mixed up with all sorts of rubbish. Curious that in sifting the human heads I came on the skull of a sun-bear (ursus malayanus).
27th May. - To Nerawang: 3 hours, 6 miles; S. by W. Nerawang: 3 houses. 15 families To Bayaon: 3 hours, 6 miles; S.S.E. Bayaon: 4 houses, 24 families; Bajor. The Moroli River (to be distinguished from the river near which the village Moroli stands) flows from the south; it would flow from the lake if such lake were extant. The Moroli River might, from its quantum of | |
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water, be called the third branch of the Sugud. The Moroli is, perhaps, too rapid to be practicable. Nerawang was made our halting place during the mid-day hours. There lives an old man who has on the left side of his face a fleshy appendage which, on closer inspection, shows the rudimentary features of a reverted face, without eyes and mouth opening. This extraordinary growth is of the size of a child's head, and is covered with skin of the usual colour. On the way to Bayaon our guides found the path so much overgrown (ba'an) that they missed the village. We spent the night in a little granary, glad to have such a waterproof cover, for it was raining heavily.
28th May: To Mangitam: 4 hours. 8 miles; S.S.W. Mangitam: 2 houses, 10 families; Maman Salakin. We went on to Mangitam, after having at Bayaon bought some provisions and engaged fresh guides. In these parts the returns of cereal and other crops are not known to fail. But the land has been worked over a wide tract, and during these last three days we came through scarcely any patches of virgin forest. Everywhere are traces of the migratory habits of the Dusun tribe; they shift their planting grounds as shepherds their pastures. The main level of this district is 1,200 feet above the sea; the ground rises to 1,600 in two ridges which we crossed, and there are a few out of the way cones attaining perhaps to 1,800. With regard to our sick parties, it is fortunate that the ground is no longer so difficult as from Bengkoka to Tinagas. The Moroli River is near Mangitam, a torrent. In its affluents on the right shore, the Waluh, Pasion aud Sopayan, we covered part of the way. The rock is serpentine. Of the hamlets, Kahira and Gakob, nothing particular is to be said, and neither of Mangitam, our present quarters. It should, perhaps, be remarked that villages in the interior are currently spoken of under the name of their headman, if such headman be popular, or if the village consists of but one single house. That custom tends to create a certain confusion, and one cannot too precisely ask for the name of the place proper. It is better to apply to the old man himself. Younger members of Dusun communities are often ignorant of the proper name of their native haunt.
29th May. - To Inowantei: 3 hours, 5 miles; S. by E. Inawantei: 1 house, 2 families; Gangar. To Tamalau: 4 hours, 6 miles; S.E. Tamalau: 2 houses, 12 families; Selima. | |
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Towards Inowantei we travelled on a ridge, bearing in its highest point the name Derigi. That point is 2,650 feet above sea and 1,100 feet above the nearest level of the Linogu River. The Linogu Valley is enclosed between the range in question and another of similar average height. The Linogu Valley is here a broad feature, without, however, having at its bottom any more space than that occupied by the river bed.Ga naar voetnoot3 On the southern slope of the Derigi stands a single house forming the hamlet of lnowantei. In its vicinity the forest is almost untouched by the axe, including even that of the guttah-collector. For these people do not know the gutta percha tree, and of indiarubber they know but little, there being no great demand. When rambling in the bush, the experienced eyes of my men noticed guttah trees and rubber vines of the best description. The Linogu Valley runs, generally speaking, E.S.E. and East, and so do the ranges which we descried further south. In E.S.E. to W.N.W. seems to lie the main-axis of the mountain lines that traverse what used to be the lake region. Such development is connected with the courses of the two rivers Linogu aud Kinabatangan. From Inowantei we carried off the whole male population as guides, that is to say, three men were handsomely recompensed in advance tor taking us to Tamalau. During a halt, one of their spears stuck in the ground, happened to fall down and to inflict a slight cut on the head of one of our men. The Dususs, at first mortally frightened, composed themselves on our assurance that we would not hurt them in return. The wounded man, a Sulu, was disciplined enough not to run amuck on the spot. Another little incident of yesterday morning may also be recorded here. When about midway to Mangitam, a Dusun came up with us to complain that an adze of his disappeared from the field hut in which we spent the night before Bayaon. The man was satisfied on my instantly having a package of brand new adzes opened and one given him for shame sake. He could see that we are amply provided ourselves. The missing adze was, if at all, pilfered by our former guides, who were Kagasingan people. But theft among Dusuns of the interior is, I understand, of rare occurrence. | |
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These last two days our guides wanted to turn back on account of ‘bad birds’. Dusuns are superstitious in a great many ways. But what civilized man is quite free from superstition which, according to Schopenhauer is innate to one's nature. The same philosopher states that truth is at the bottom of common superstition just as of the belief in omens. The belief in birds here applies to their note, and not, as with the Dyaks and Romans, to the flight. Each village seems to have special good and bad birds of its own, ornithology in a singular garb. Early yesterday morning some member of the lark family warbled beautifully, when the guides suddenly stopped. ‘What do you think of that bird?’ they asked me (who happened just then to be looking at the compass). ‘Well, it is a good one, I am sure.’ ‘Do you feel quite easy in hearing it?’ they continued asking ‘I do; and now go on.’ They obeyed, and I fancied they were persuaded. But on nearing the next village on the road, the Dusuns declared they would rather give back their fee than walk any further on account of that bird. ‘All right, we'll get fresh men in that village.’ In fact, however, the the same men took us as far as we wanted. Why? Simply because their ‘good bird’ made itself audible in time. ‘On hearing that we are no longer afraid’, they confessed when a hornbill overcroaked a whole congress of winged singers. The Derigi ridge afore-mentioned may be considered as parting the affluents to the Moroli and the Linogu rivers, or, taking the range as prolonged towards E.f as the watershed between the Sugud and the Linogu. I learn at Tamalau that part of such watershed is formed by the Mentapok which directs the Mentapok rivulet to the Linogu, and the Tokad river towards the Sugud. I anticipate by stating here that the peaked mountain Mentapok rises in the vicinity of the Sagolitan and Tampulong villages, which are situated respectively one and two days' journey down stream from here (Tamalan). From Danao to Inowantei (distinguish from Ginowantei) the Linogu has already fallen 500 feet. The distance between the two places is covered by Dusuns on foot in about two days. From Inowaintei to the sea the Linogu alters its level 1,100 feet. That, combined with a mean velocity of eight feet per second, enables us to estimate the length of its course from here to the mouth at no more than 100 to 120 miles (considering there are no falls). The discharge to-day here was 3,800 cubic feet every second, or about three-quarters of what passed the Sugud at Tinagas when we crossed it. But while the Sugud can attain to six times its then quantum, this river here will scarcely double its present discharge. The Linogu | |
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is pretty swollen just now; it must have rained heavily of late up-country. We, ourselves, were drenched three afternoons consecutively. The rock of the river in chlorite slate, of a confused stratification, but there are many trap dykes; each kind quartz-veined. Our further information about this river was obtained at Tamalau. The path thither takes more climbing and creeping than walking, as is always the case in travelling along rivers on foot, and between hills that rise right from the margin of the stream. The Linogu was at the time nowhere less than one fathom deep. The Linogu. here also called Kuananan, is no doubt one and the same river with the Labuk. It was Mr. Pryer who suggested that first. But to these people neither ‘Labuk’ nor ‘Lingkabo’ are known as a denomination current in the lower part. And that is the more strange, as not only Sulu traders are in the habit of ascending in small prahas as far as Inawantei, but the Dusuns themselves have visited the Islamitish settlements as far as Rungus, which is said to be but one day's travel from the sea.Ga naar voetnoot4 The Kinabatangan is called by them ‘Kagibangan’Ga naar voetnoot5 and not ‘Nabatangan’, the name spoken of at Danao and westward. Mr. Pryer in a letter to me, kindly mentioned that the natives at Bokis, up the Labuk, take the Linogu to be the Upper Labuk, and not, as I recorded from Danao, a branch of Kinabatangan. According to information obtained at this place, Tamalau, the districts succeed each other down stream as follows: Sogolitan, Tampulong, Dumpas and Rungus. They reach Rungus, at low water, in four days canoeing, and they ascend in seven to eight days. Just above Rungus, the Tonsuon River is said to join on the left shore; on it are reported Sogo and Labuh. Our hosts never heard of a village Bokis; nor could they be expected to know all the names where villages must be numerous. On the other hand it is not likely that Mr. Pryer ascended as far as Tampulon, for else he would have heard about the Mentapok, or seen it. We presently find ourselves in latitude 5o 45' N. and longitude 116o 59' E. of Greenwich. The Mentapok will become visible again when we traverse the right shore, and there cross the ranges on the road to Kinabatangan alias Kagibangan (?). From our present position the river is seen to flow south, meandering though; but the valley further down makes a turn towards | |
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some point to the north of S.E. But even the reference to Mentapok is not conclusive with regard to the place reached by the Resident of Sandakan in August last. For, the natives tell me, the peaks of the mountain are respectively called from west to east, Mandawi, Mentapok and Monkabao. The reason why I say so much about Bokis is that if I were sure where to find that place, I would steer straight for it, as I had half a dozen of my men to despatch down river. The poor fellows are leg and back sore in a painful manner, not to speak of the attending ague. I shall temporise with them as far as Kagibangan (Kinabatangan?), reachable from here, they tell me, in three days. The programme of our journey is adhered to by rounding the Mentapok to the westward, so far as the route to Siboku implies. The majority of us are quite in condition to push on for another fortnight yet, and I should not be justified in laying our course at once nearer the east coast.
30th May. - Gave the men a day's rest. We learn from this people the following names of Sulumen and other Mahomedans either living or carrying on business at Lower Linogu. The Dusuns know: Datus, Sirakaya, Asebih. Sabendar, Dekula, Alun, and Garal, the last known to them also as Panglima Garal. It struck me that nearly all the men of Tamalau are tattooed, including even mere lads. They are marked on breast, shoulders, and arms, the same as our friends of Upper Sugut. But while with those tattooing distinguishes the hero of an inter-tribal war, here at Tamalau it signifies something very different. When remarking about these signs of prowess, they at once said their custom was different from the people of Bundo, Morali, Kagasingan, Lansat &c.; and then we heard a tale which betrays a horrible side of the Dusun character, although they spoke with a glee like children talking about their sport, and they laughed good-humouredly to our cross questions about slowly extracting blood from their victims, or preserving the heads. &c. This ‘costumble del paes’ consists in the following: - When they had been damaged in their plantations and other property by the ‘Sulug’ they kill every Suluman they can get hold of. The Mahomedan chiefs, in order to keep the river open, then used to reconcile them by giving the aggrieved community some slave - to dispose of; this is done by tying the slave up und spearing him through the thorax, which accomplished, the men in the village each take a cut at the quivering body. Whoever does that has a right to tattoo himself. They afterwards bury the dead without retaining the skull, ‘for the Sulu chiefs do not wish | |
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them to do that.’ [...] They assure us they are not the same tribe who are reported as catching the blood of such victims in small bamboos on purpose of sprinkling it over their fields; but they are certainly the same people of which the Danao men, pointing to E.S.E., said, ‘Don't go there; they are very bad.’ Evils like that must needs be faced before they can be cured. We are now prepared to meet, south of Kinabatangan, two-legged man-eaters.
31st May. - On to-day's arrival at Mirawandei I have to refer to some remarks made the day before yesterday. When at Tamalau, we told the Dusuns we wanted to reach that large river in the south, the Kinabatangan and they replied they know but one large river in the south of Tamalau, and that is the ‘Kagibangan’. They said we had to make three halts, namely at Mirawandei, at Kopuron, and at Sindobon, which latter place is on the banks of the Kagibangan. This morning it first struck us that we never crossed to the right shore, and that the Linogu continued flowing south. Then we found that Mirawandei is situated in the Linogu Valley, and we heard that so is our second station that is to be. In fact, it came out that the Kagibangan is an affluent to the Linogu on the right bank, of which circumstance we were yesterday told nothing. The Kinabatangan is by the Mirawandei people called ‘Melian’, which name I remember to have heard further north as belonging to a distinct tribe of the Kinabatangan district. Between this and yesterday's place we passed the hamlets Garak and Tadaron. There exists no doubt, also a Bokis, but we fail to extract information about it, even from our present hosts, it may be stated that these Aborigines are genuine Dusun, and that I have not up to the present time collected more than one dozen words which are idiomatic to themselves. They very nearly all speak Tindal, a dialect known to each man of our party, excepting an Arab and my Chinese boy. We are therefore not perhaps at a loss how to get along with conversation. This will show how one has to grope one's way. Dusuns are not given to telling gratuitous fibs, but you have in every case to go and see for yourself, to make sure. The river shores to the south of Tamalau are in places flat and overrun with Lalang grass. There are crocodiles hereabout, by which the Dusuns lose dogs, pigs, and their worthy selves, which may show that the Linogu is between this and the lower grounds by no means blocked by shallows. Its generally considerable depth is also indicated by the river's name for ‘Linogu’ means ‘a deep water’; in Bajow and Sulu, ‘Lingkabo’. All the | |
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villages here are situated high above the river level; Inowantei, for instance, 500 ft., Tonalau 500ft., Mirawandei 700ft. For their plantations they select localities hidden from view from the river; and the ascent is as precipitous as the descent. On questioning the people why they perch so high, we learn that they are much in fear of the Dumpas men, a Mahomedan community midway, perhaps, between this and the sea. From here we see Kinabalu; its highest top bears 317o, and in 220o is the Wodan Mountain. The Wodan - the name sounds somewhat like northern mythology - answers exactly to the northernmost top of the ‘Backbone Range’ which is on the maps drawn as if pulling up short on the southern shores of the ‘Lake’. I estimate the Wodan at 8,000 ft.; the same is very likely a centre of elevation.
1st June. - Fancy yourself lying awake with fever waiting until lassitude will allow you to sleep somehow, and all the night through a score of girls singing at the top of their voices, ‘We are going to have pork to-morrow, and pork is what we like.’ Such was the situation of my sick companions and my own last night. The Dusuus call that observation ‘Korintan’ and it signifies the ‘Vigil’ on the eve of a great festival. The villagers of Mirowandei are going to enjoy themselves. There is no such custom further west. We on our part did not interfere with them. Except pigs, no live stock here; and no fruit beyond plantains and Durian. As if that were not enough. Fancy, Durian! The Dusuns have the word ‘Pakalahan’ for it. If there be with my followers any secret expectation as to the end of our present journey, it is that we should be back to Tampasuk in time for the Durian season, which gives me six weeks' grace from this date. Having descended to the river side we built rafts. On these we floated down until we reached Si Hino's, a Suluman's house. The distance is only five miles, the river gentle. Whenever shoals occur there are also channels deep enough for small craft. It must be remembered that the river has diminished nearly one fathom since we measured it at lnowantei. Si Hino's place was on our arrival converted into a sick room. The head of the party came down in a delirium of fever.
2nd June. - It is to be hoped that the attack on me will not develop into the malignant ague of last year. My men are likewise picking up. There are only five of them really ailing. If we are thus comparatively free from the effects of unwonted diet (for we live as Dusuns) and of climatic exposure, | |
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we attribute it mainly to the circumstance that Surgeon Cockle is a spiritual member of our expedition. The district here is called Mangkalabu; it is at a distance of two days' paddling down stream from Dumpas. Our host, Si Hino, is living by himself at the riverside; he tells us that the Dumpas are Tambonuas, who came originally from the Sugut and Paitan; they are converts. The Linogu has reached lat. 5o 38' N., having more than half the distance from Danao flowed E.S.E. and then South. A little below here. Si Hino says, commences the turn towards E. (E.N.E.?), as corresponding with the mouth of the Labuk marked on the Admiralty Chart. Kinabalu. throwing off his cloak of clouds, becomes visible at sunset in N.W. ¾ N.
3rd June. - To Liposu: 7 hours (rafting). 21 miles; E. by S. There being no track from Mangkalabu to the Kinabatangan, we had to descend the Linogu further. We did so for twenty one miles, and put up at a single house, called Liposu, for the night. This house stands quite near the river also. We had seen just as little of it as of the villages on the road, of which there may be many. This place belongs to the district Tampulong; that of Sogolitan we came through to-day, but its people are said to live on a particularly bad footing with the Dumpas,Ga naar voetnoot6 and are therefore all but invisible. The meanderings of the Linogu resulted in a general course from Si Hino's to this of E. by S. There are no rapids that would interrupt the Linogu or Laibuk River as a practicable road to the very centre of the Company's territoryGa naar voetnoot7. The same will be found the more practicable the lower the water. Its shores are mostly high and jungle-clad. The rock is in this part chlorite-slate as at Tamalau, and limestone. The Kagibangan forks in two branches into the main stream a little below Si Hino's, and on the right bank. From there upwards the Linogu is also called Kuananan, ‘the one right hand’, in distinction from ‘Kagibangan’, meaning the one on the left hand. The Kagibangan is the inferior of the two. The Dusuns say it flows from the mountain Kitonduru, which, when | |
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pointed out to me from Mirowandei, I recognised as the Bolinkadus of Kiawawi-Mukab. The Kagibangan was at the time quite limpid, and we could see that it did not mix with the muddy Linogu water for more than a mile, always keeping the right shore. Of the numerous hills rising along the Linogu, the outskirts of the Mentapok are the loftiest; we could not, however, see the main peak, which must be, according to former bearings, somewhere to the N.N.W. of this place (Liposu). On what seems to be the lower limit of Sogolitan we noticed a queer exhibition of the animosity towards Dumpas. There a rope, i.e., rattan, was stretched across the river, from which dangled all sorts of friendly mementoes, such as sharpened bamboos, wooden choppers, snares, &c.
4th June. - To Punguh: 3 hours, 8 miles (rafting); E.S.E. The family on whose hospitality we intruded last night would only take glass beads in exchange for their rice. But to cater sufficiently for all ‘my children’, as the Bajows style themselves, we had to raft as far as Punguh. Between the two places guttah collectors are known to strike through the bush south, if they want to reach the Melian (Kinabatangan). That is to say, they first get on the Koun Koun rivulet, which falls into the Kinabatangan; but there is no village on the road for fully five days, and there is at the Koun Koun no wood either that could be made into rafts. I should here insert that no bamboo grows on the Linogu shores below Mirowandei, but that the ‘Bilian’, the iron-wood of Sarawak, is plentiful. The guttah and camphor hunters, when at Koun Koun, dig out canoes, which, when not in use, they conceal in the forest. For us, the question resolved itself into either doing the same thing or hauling canoes across the watershed. We decided on the latter course for palpable reasons. Punguh and Buis are the last non-Mahomedan villages down stream; the inhabitants are Tambonuas. Rowing down the river to-day we passed several groups of Dumpas men, busy in manufacturing the guttah of commerce from the produce collected in the adjacent forests. To them both varieties are known. Also at Punguh we met several people from Dumpas. They all speak Sulu, besides their own idiom, Tambonus,Ga naar voetnoot8 and the impression they make is not bad. But I, for my part, should prefer the Tambonuas in the state of ‘Kafirs’, that is ‘unbelievers’. | |
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To the S.S.E. of Liposu rises the the mountain group of Melise, the highest top of which may be some 4,000 feet. Both the Mentapok and the Meliao are by the western and northern Dusuns believed to be as high or higher than Kinabalu. The Mentapok we could see this afternoon again. Its highest peak bears from here N. by W. ½ W., it is very likely not above 7,000 ft. Mentapok is, property told a range extending for about ten miles in E.N.E. - W.S.W. An ascent of the highest top, which is called Mandawi, would offer an opportunity for establishing the orographic features of the country for a certainty. The Mentapok is the loftiest ground in that disordered assemblage of mountains that fills up the ‘lake’.
5th June. - The arrangements for the purchase of three canoes took us the whole day. An important business was also to think of our sick companions. I decided on sending ten men down the river, and to enable them to procure the conveyance to Sandakan. To that end they are provided with trade goods and medicines enough for ten days, and with a Malay letter addressed to all the Hajis and Chiefs of the river and country Labuk. In such letter is briefly stated the case of our men, and the request made that they should be assisted in every way; in particular I asked that some craft should take them on to Elopura, where Mr. Pryer would defray the expenses. To that gentleman I wrote an outline of our journey from Bongon, and of our proposed further movements. To-morrow morning our two parties will separate; under the circumstances it is the best I can do for our invalids. The impressions I derived from Dumpas men and the people here, tends to quiet me on the point of safety in this river, between here and the sea. Then our men take four rifles and one revolver with them, besides so many krisses. The leading man, Hussein, is also plucky enough to ward off any attempt at enslavement. The latter point is the only one that gave me any occasion for reflection. After what is experienced on the west coast, in the vicinity of a Crown Colony like Labuan, my apprehensions will be understood. They call the district around Punguh Delamason. The river already bears the name Labuk. Bokis is but a short distance further down. These people remember Mr. Pryer's visit of August last very well. They seem fully impressed that their allegiance is due to the Datu Bandara. The Kampongs between this and Bokis are Mankap, Buis, AnchuonGa naar voetnoot9, Togoron | |
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and Sumilad. About the remainder Mr. Pryer has given authentic information; I, therefore, need not repeat from hearsay. Enough that the Labuk is inhabited, too, above Bokis. But the villages, as said of Tamalau and Sogolitan, are placed as if lying in ambush for the Dumpas men. On the whole the population, when compared to that in the Highlands of North Borneo, has become thin. It falls off much more rapidly towards the east than towards the west, while towards the south the density of inhabitants increases. (See Kanupir Valley and Tambunan.) That does not mean that the Sulu side of the Company's territory is less inhabitable than the rest. These parts can, in fact, be peopled with the greatest advantage to all parties concerned; and the Government of Sandakan is, I dare say, in a fair way of solving the problem. The Linogu is at Punguh, 324 ft. above the level of the sea. The name Tongod, said to belong to a river and village below Bokis, reminds one of Tangod which was mentioned at Pinowantei (Mukab-Pinowantei) as the name of a tribe near the Mentapok. The Dumpas people seem to depend for their supply of rice a great deal on what they get from the Dusuns. Hence the quarrels and hostilities. A Mahomedan community is always hard up for food; they never grow rice sufficient for their own consumption, and frequently nothing but sweet potatoes, which want little looking after. That wholesome and prolific grain, Indian corn, is as yet too little appreciated. An application from Dumpas men was made to me against Sogolitan; also one from Tambonuas versus Tambonuas. The former turns on their being at loggerheads for padi supply, the latter is a theft case. Applicants were told I would bring their cases before the Resident of Sandakan. That is, they said, exactly what they wished me to do. The headman of Punguh, Pangerapan, has a good instinct of decency. We feel quite easy in his clean and airy house. In the evening a concert came off, when a Tambonua song was sung in which some of our men took part. The tune was monotonous, but the performance had a homely touch in it, for it consisted in the persons slowly moving in a circle around the Damar light. In doing so they held each other crosswise by the hands as in ‘The days of auld lang syne’. | |
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6th June. - The distance to the mouth of the Labuk takes three days moderate travelling, but, as the crow flies, it is thirty-four nautical miles only. In parting company, the invalids floated down the river, and we reascended it. We only went a couple of miles above Punguh. Guttah collectors engaged to carry our luggage, but they would not assist at hauling the canoes. That was their condition. In consequence the luggage was shifted at once to the above mentioned Koun Koun rivulet, which done, the Tambonnas bade us adieu. The distance across the watershed is only four miles, our biggest canoe 27 ft. The ground is greatly undulating, the highest point only 180 ft. above the then level of the Linogu, 170 ft. above that of Koun Koun, and 580 ft. above the Sea. The vegetation is a fine old forest with rather dense underwood. We did our best, but could not manage to bring the canoes to this rivulet last night. Heavy rain kept us a good while at work, and does so in excess after it now. Every leaf seemed to be turned into a leech, and all the leeches to turn upon us. However, rather an ounce of blood to a leech than a drop of it to a mosquito.
7th June. - This morning the canoes were launched into what was for us a new river system. Alas, the longest of them proved cracked, and yet we had carried it as cautiously as if it had been a coffin. After an attempt at caulking the leak we started. It is no shame to confess that I do not know where this rivulet emerges into the Kinabatangan, but, I am afraid, it does so much to the eastward. Native opinions on that differ. Some say it takes two days from the mouth of the Koun Koun to the sea, while others assert it takes as many as the creation of the world. The Koun Koun evidently drains the Meliao to the Kinahatangan, as the Talupid does towards the Linogu. The Koun Koun, from where we commenced navigating it, is only ten yards wide and full of snags. Its current is there moderately rapid for the present half-flooded state. It flows through an alluvial bed; for thirteen miles we could nowhere see a lump of rock. The vegetation on its shores might be called the type of a tropical virgin forest. The guttah and camphor in it is yet to be collected, and until it is done the rattans will lay waste. What a profusion of jungle produce, and what animal life. Besides deer and bisons we saw giants of orangutans. The argus-pheasant seems very common.
8th June - In this part the river is on an average twenty yards wide, and there is generally more water in it than snags. But there are yet logs in the way that entail unloading the canoes and lifting them across. At one point a misty snag prepared us a regular mishap. The leading canoe passed it, | |
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but the other two capsized, the largest and the smallest craft. The tide was strong, the depth two fathoms, and the crocodiles - well, we did not think of them. As it was, everybody saved himself, and we all tried to save our wrecked chattels. The actual loss consisted in one basket of beads and brassware, one Snider rifle, two krisses, one spear, and a couple of saucepans. To-day we passed two parties of Labuk men engaged in guttah work. The forest presents the same aspect as described above, the ground is apparently one continuous dead level. Almost the first rocks that we see crop out from a dangerous rapid of considerable extent. We shall have to make a portage. In the meantime we build our leaf huts for the night. If the Koun Koun be also practicable, these rapids are no doubt a limit to its navigability. I guess, we are now about half way to the junction with the Kinabatangan. The rock is a chemically formed quartz-rock.
9th June. - The portage was our first thing in the morning. We re-embarked below the rapids, and were gaily paddling along, when, behind a sharp turn, the trunk of a tree was all but blocking up the river. The current, setting at this particular spot not less than six knots an hour, threw the leading canoe athwart that mighty obstacle, upset it, and keel-hauled canoe and all. The loss sustained is more serious than that of yesterday, nearly all the instruments and medicines went to the bottom, to say nothing of private property. The other two canoes were some distance behind, and remained invisible for a long while. Our misgivings that they should have come to grief on a previous snag proved true. The longest canoe, very leaky, turned up at last, reporting that they had both capsized, and that the smallest craft, a new one though, had gone to pieces; men and stores were all right, and the men would close up with us on foot - in any case they would walk on towards the village let it be for two days. I at once despatched the longest canoe down stream to try and make the village, pressing on as hard as they could, and to return with assistance. They were given the great part of trade goods, and all the papers; rice we retained, the little yet available leaving them enough for one meal. We on our part would wait for our companions behind, and then arrange further. Three men thus proceeded in one canoe while few of us waited in the second canoe for the remaining nine men. While thus waiting, a swarm of wasp fastened on us and put us to flight. We made, however, a stand a quarter of a mile further down. After | |
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some time we had reason to suppose our nine friends had traversed though the bush in trying to cut off the points, the river twisting a good deal. We therefore ran for a couple of miles further on. In doing so we bumped on an awash rock and capsized. Another package of ours was engulphed. If that continues on such a rate we shall, before reaching the Kinabatangan, Be in a position to topple over with impunity. The water is muddy, rapid, and deep; everything valuable sinks and is lost for ever, mere trifles float and are preserved - amongst them your obedient servant, the writer. From the morning's start, the rapids, we only covered six miles; the nine men were cast ashore at about half the distance. We shall extend our present halt over night. Here we sit shoutuig for our friends and cooking for them. They have but little boiled rice in keeping. The Koun Koun is getting more and more turbulent, there must have been much rain up-country as we had it these three last nights.
10th June. - A day of trial. Towards midnight we awoke in our leaf hut - swamped. The water had since nightfall risen by one-and-a-half fathoms. We retired to a higher level, the water followed us. In the morning we had to run the gauntlet in our tiny craft; no bamboo or other buoyant wood available to make it more steady. For eleven cable lengths it went on, at the twelfth we were caught by the branch of some tree, which would be, perhaps, eighteen feet above a medium level of the river. The struggle for the canoe was short, we had to let it go and the rice basket with it. Among my men is now but one Illanun; two other Illanuns were among the batch of invalids ordered down the Labuk to Sandakan. It is characteristic that, while the Bajowas assist each other and try to save our goods, the Illanun lets go everything and makes straight for the land. The individual in question and most of us swim like sharks; and yet, could you have seen these plucky Bajows how piously they thanked God for the preservation of their lives, and I must in justice add, for that of their master. The Koun Koun in flood is a wild water. We happened to find ourselves on the left bank, our missing friends were said to be on the right one. In walking on we discovered the ground to be in this part much broken. Between the low hills bordering the river, muddy pools are formed, some of them now of a considerable extent. A few of these loughs we swam through, the others we walked around. One makes little headway in such toilsome pursuit. Towards sunset we prepared our usual shelter of leaves and twigs. Then there was a hailing, | |
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audible from the river: we responded. In fact, we were continually hailing and shouting all day long. We recognised the voices as belonging to the nine men; they were on rafts. Two of the poor fellows did not object to join us by swimming a pool and climbing up a steep mountain side. In reward we had to disappoint them ‘Can you give us something to eat’, they gasped.
11th June. - After another night of thunderstorm we went first to see our friends on the second raft. There were four men on it. Three others had preferred to drift on a log, but had not been seen since early yesterday. The raft of the two men that spent. the night with us was smashed. After urging the men afloat to make the village, we parted company. About two miles further on, another hail from below - our four navigators reappeared. They had been wrecked and would walk. The choppers worked a winding path through the jungle; but in doing so the hands grew weaker and weaker. What a store this forest is of everything that makes a tropical dominion valuable from the very outset! But there is in this glorious waste of trees absolutely nothing which the homo sapiens could feed upon in an emergency.Ga naar voetnoot10 My Bajows, bred in the jungle, were at a loss in spite of their many resources against famine. Then I told them we should keep to the river, where we could make rafts of rotten logs that float, the fresh wood being throughout heavy as iron. The men could not stand the continual ‘up-hill and down-hill’ any longer. ‘Yes, master’, they said, ‘let us cling to the river; it is so much easier to die near the river-side, if we have to die at all.’ [...] The European, hungry though, but better fed than they are, could here laughingly answer, ‘We certainly have to die, but not yet.’ In fact, we shortly afterwards reached a spot which was a former planting ground. Among the weeds and scrub the Bajows revived, and so did the undersigned himself: we were as good as grazing. Then we had a halloo from our three faithful companions that had escaped the flood and reached the village in safety. They were now in search of us, in a fine canoe, accompanied by Orang Kaya Binua, of Parayon. We all embarked, and descended to Parayon. It was late at night when we arrived at the Orang Kaya's house, which is the one situated furthest up the river. My three companions, reported as adrift on a log, are, alas! yet missing. On our way to this place we agreed with a party of guttah hunters | |
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they should the very same night ascend the Koun Koun looking out for the three men. To-morrow morning I would take further steps myself.
12th June. - I would exult over the return of our commies. They had been picked up clinging to their log. The legs of one of them are somewhat numbed, another is vomiting, the third does not mind it at all. Four days' flirtation with crocodiles! Where we met Orang Kaya Binua's party, four and a half miles from here, the Koun Koun changes its name to Lukan. As the Lukan it falls into the Kinabatangan, but that is said to be yet one day's paddling off. The people of the Linogu informed us so far correctly in stating that the mouth of the Koun Koun takes four days down stream. Where the nominal alteration of the river occurs, i.e., where they picked us up, there stood formerly a village, Sapaan, and there also joins a rivulet, named Luon do Parei, on the left shore. Below there the shores are flat, and the jungle is interrupted by abandoned planting ground. The stream is fifty yards wide, easy, and too deep for snags. The principal growth is rice and sugar-cane. The Tambonuas know how to prepare raw sugar. The welcome gift of Orang Kaya Binua consisted in a cupful of molasses and a lamp of bay-salt. Heuresement dans ce cas les extrémes ne se touchaient pas. The quality of tobacco is even lower than the grounds whereon it is grown. I quite understand the troubles we had with the rainGa naar voetnoot11 on seeing the rice stalks here two feet high. At Tampassuk the season is not so advanced; there they just commence to dress their rice fields. On the other hand, the rains ‘behind’ Kinabalu - that is. to the S.E., E., and N.E. of it - set in much later than on the west coast (see Marudu Diary, September and November). The river is visited by Sulu and Sagamo (Bajow) traders. The inhabitants of the Lukan are unconverted Tambonuas. They incline towards Islamism, for they are polygamists; Dusuns as a rule are not, that is to say, they usually take a second wife if the first be getting old. Their religious convictions culminate in their being after death transferred to the top of ‘Nabalu’ - the general belief with Dusuns. If a Dusun feels his end approaching he allows his finger-nails to grow long, ‘so that he may be sure in scrambling up the steep and naked sides of Nabalu.’ The waters rushing from the gullies of Kinabalu have a name of their own (Tatse di Nabalu), ‘In them the dead Dusuns used to bathe.’. [...] Considering that | |
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a well-to-do Dusun is, before burial, doubled up into a jar, the idea of his becoming a member of a trans-Stygian Alpine Club is rather ludicrous. Having had occasion to observe Tambonuas in four different rivers pretty far apart, I can safely assert them to be superior to the Dusuns proper in several respects. Industry and quick perception are common to all the aborigines in the northernmost Borneo: but the Tambonua is free from drink and dirt, and there is about Tambonuas not only nothing ferocious known, but they are possessed of the only redeeming feature of the pure Malay race, namely, a sense of decency and politeness. In the afternoon I re-ascended the Lukan for three miles, that was, to where the tracing of the river-course had been broken off at yesterday's nightfall.
13th June. - On the way to the Kinabatangan we counted no more than twenty-five houses, scattered over five miles of the river-course. The remaining portion of the latter was found to-day fifteen miles and a half long. That gives the whole Lukan River twenty miles navigable throughout - at floods, even for a steamer drawing ten feet. To that the Koun Koun would add, for small craft, thirty-six miles, of which, however, only eleven are below the rapids. It is, on the whole, a respectable waterway into the zone between Kinabatangan (Meliao) and Labuk (Linogu). I understand the Lukan Koun Koun to be the most considerable of all affluents to the Kinabatangan, keeping its head-waters apart. That this long stretch of country (the one between Labuk and Kinabatangan) is almost uninhabited, will hardly prevent its being resorted to as a source of guttah, rubber, camphor, bees-wax, and rattans. There is but a small tract on either end of the Koun Koun where collecting produce has been initiated, but scarcely breaks into such a vast field. Above twenty-five houses belong to the three communities, Parayon, Seroi, and Bolikong. At the latter place lives the leading man, Laksamana Tabaku. At the time of the Datu Bandara's visit, the Laksamana's village was at BintasanGa naar voetnoot12 situated on the Kinabatangan, ‘at a gong's hearing’ from Kuala (in Sulu Semud) Lukan. Since then they shifted into this river. The lower Lukan floods the country on both sides of it. We found the Kinabatangan of a high level too. Halted for the night three-quarters of a mile above Sabougan, not knowing the village to be so near by. | |
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14th June. - Referring to the men that drifted down the Koun Koun, I have to state that one of them is suffering much indeed. I fear his ague is coupled with dysentery. Three others are also unserviceable. With regard to that, I put these four men, accompanied by the indomitable Sawad, who knows Sulu and Sandakan, into a safe canoe, and sent them on from Sabongan. The provisions they have will last them as far as Malapi, and they carry a letter to Datu Haji, the Company's agent there. Datu Haji is described as the man who will certainly provide for them further. In fact, there cannot be a question about this; all I hear from these people shows that we are now almost as much at home as if we were at Elopura itself. Public feeling is marked by respect for and confidence in their present lords, the Company. Though Pangeran Aami himself was absent from Sabongan, I met there several traders and a few natives from other parts of the river. I should quote some remarks of theirs which show in what a satisfactory way the minds of these people have been influenced, and how they are alive to the difference between their increasing prosperity and their abject condition in former times. However, for the diary, I have said enough. Of course, I duly wrote to Mr. Pryer at the same time. The pull to Malapi is said to take three days. I am now left with ten men, some of whom are a little shaky, but all imbued with a willing mind ‘for three months more’, so they word it themselves. Our next thing is to reascend, and then ascend the Kinabatangan as far as Quarmote, where we are promised information about a possible track to Siboku. Before sunset we covered seven miles from Sabongan, or say two miles past Kuala Tukan. There we camped. The stream is almost too strong for paddles so weary as ours. The Kinabatangan is, I understand, quite a lazy water, except higher up, if there be no freshet on. On the general appearance of the Kinabatangan shores, &c., I have scarcely to remark. The jungle is less imposing than that up Koun Koun, the Linogu and Sugut. But the jungle here will be so much the easier cleared off for agricultural purposes. The constant accession of fresh soil should guarantee great fertility. Just now the shores of the Kinabatangan are flooded, and a considerable area seems to be converted into a lagoon. The sediment in this river is of a truly Nilotic proportion. For gauging the stream at its present discharge I have no appliances left; even the timepiece is done for. By estimate the Kinabatangan has here (below where the Lukan forks into it) 30,200 cubic feet every second, and the Lukan has about one twelfth of that quantum. Hypsometric | |
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figures are also wanting on our route survey, since the casualties in the Koun Koun. Dry and rocky spots are but few, and on them I cannot discern flood marks above the present level. The river is seven to ten fathoms deep; it strikes one the more to see in mid stream some grounded log peeping out like a hippopotamus.
15th June. - The scenery has thoroughly changed. The diary is being written up on board of the Sandakan steam launch. That came to pass in the following manner: - Continuing this morning up-stream, I could see we had arrived at that stage, when on a pioneering journey, the men must be allowed a few day's, say a week's, recreation. We should not need that had we the freshet of this river with us instead of against. I decided on returning to Sabongan in order to give the men a rest. At four in the afternoon we arrived there, and were just hunting for a supper (hunting sweet potatoes), when a steam launch appeared at the lower end of the reach. ‘What launch is that?’ ‘I know’, said a Sabongan man, ‘the Governor is sending rice to Quarmote, where he has built a house.’ ‘Indeed, then we shall be able to get soon to Quarmote after all.’ My men: ‘Yes, master, let us go to Siboku.’ The launch was soon boarded. I found Datu Kabugatan in charge - the same Datu whom I believed to be expecting us at the mouth of the Siboku. The poor man was all done up with dysentery. He is an opium-cater, without being a De Quincy, I am sorry to say. Hardly could he explain the point of his instructions. There was, however, a letter from Mr. Pryer, written on the 11th inst,, the day when our Linogu invalids had come to Elopura (after having experienced friendly treatment throughout the Labuk). Mr. Pryer ordered the launch to intercept us. He calculated very well that we should emerge at Kuala Lakan, and would think of striking in again at Quarmote. His very kind note runs in the main as follows: - ‘I hope the steam launch will pick you up all right. Please don't think of going over to the Sibocu this time. I cannot at present send to meet you at its mouth, When you come here we will talk over a trip for some other time there’, &c., &c. I presume there are political considerations that bring our journey across the Company's territory to an unexpected end.
16th June. - By the launch those five men came back again who were sent down stream on the 14th inst. I am very glad to see them a little improved; others are breaking down. Journeys through tropical forests principally | |
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tell on the physique through the continual moisture. I should say in that lies an analogy to the influence of Arctic travels, in particular of a summer season in the ice. You are as good as never dry in a hygienic sense. It is all very well to see a remedy in flannels. Flannels are an excellent palliative; my native followers soon took a fancy for them. He who seeks information about Borneo in Borneo should have among his outfit an underanged liver. If he be in that respect already done for. His only chance lies in a similar diet to the one forced on us by circumstances (not, perhaps, by our employers). Live on vegetables, and have no other condiments but salt with you. You will lose flesh but you never get bilious then. Furthermore, ‘Beer for boys, port for men, brandy for heroes’, and, allow me to add, water for travellers. It is, perhaps, bold to count myself among the travellers; pray let it pass for the water's sake. Returning to our present doings. I have to say that we busied ourselves last night and the morning in cutting firewood. Then there came to Sabongan two prahus, under the Company's flag, from the Kuamut. The leading man handed me a letter from Mr. Pryer, dated 20th May. [...] ‘It would be highly inexpedient for you to proceed on your journey anywhere in a southern direction.’ We got up steam. That Company's prahu being destined for Sandakan, was taken in tow as far as the village Batangan. There we cut firewood and remained over night.
17th June. - Not, perhaps, as if the Kinabatangan could not be navigated at night time, but I, myself, never had an opportunity of seeing the river before. The same has ceased to be anything like a wild remote region; at Malapi the dollar currency is as good as established. The present flood marks out the comparative few localities which are sufficiently raised so as not to become inundated. On several of them new hamlets are springing up, or fresh clearings being made for plantations. The whole has, as far as Malapi, a prosperous and cheery look. Further down there are, as yet, no houses. In the Delta we met numerous prahus, manned by Sulus and by Chinese; each of them was flying the Company's colours. Having had to let slip our anchor at Batangan, I did not stop at Malapi longer than sufficient to take two policemen on board as passengers. The flag at Malapi was up, but all the notabilities were absent on business. We left the Kinabatangan through the new creek (Trusun Bharu) and the mouth called Mimiang. Elopura we reached towards nine o'clock in the evening. | |
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To present diary belongs a survey of the route, drawn on a scale of two miles to the inch, and a general report. Copied Elopura, Sandakan Bay, 27th June, 1881.
F. WITTI In the B.N.B. Company's Employ. |
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