OF MT. KINABALU AND BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 53 
the “ rentis" was built up to about 1 m. above the level surface, to keep 
it out of the mud which even in dry weather the buffaloe manages to 
churn up; but when wet all trace of the path is, 1 believe, entirely lost. 
The police-station at Kotabelud is situated on an eminence commanding 
the alluvial plains, which in the foreground are bounded by open sandstone 
hills, bare and red, deforestation of these spurs having had a result similar 
to that at Jesselton. 
Landwards the bare hills are succeeded by the forest-clad outlines of the 
main range, and above all the giant ridge of Kinabalu, which from this 
western aspect is seen to stretch northwards for 10 miles in a straight line. 
These alluvial plains of the Tampussuk have been cultivated by generations 
of Dusuns, whose ** campongs,” picked out by eoco-nut and Areca palms, dot 
its area, Rice being the staple food of the inhabitants, any flat area is of 
enormous value in such a hilly country, and the people have evolved a 
regular system of irrigation for the water-rice which is so essential to their 
welfare. 
I spent one day at Usakan, on the sea-coast, about 7 miles from Kotabelud, 
for the purpose of collecting seaweeds. 
The “rentis” to Usakan skirts the cleared sandstone foothills, which 
are covered with the fine Gardenia Merrill, mentioned by both Spencer 
St. John (7. 242) and Burbidge (9. 249), and leads over the Tampussuk 
plain to the mangrove-fringed Abai river, where crossing to the opposite 
bank we emerged on to open foothills again, the crests covered with 
* Lalang” associated with Sorghum serratum and quantities of Nepenthes 
gracilis, apparently a typical xerophilous plant. 
Usakan itself is a lovely bay, bounded by two jutting sandstone promon- 
tories, on which I collected Sterculia fetida, Arytera littoralis E. rufescens, 
Ficus indica, Commersonia echinata, all with branches drooping into the sea, 
whilst isolated specimens of Cycas circinalis grew on the rocks. Between the 
promontories was a beautiful sweep of Caswarina-fringed white sand, only 
broken where a few mangroves marked the egress of a small stream from the 
foothills, which run parallel to the bay. Skirting the sandy beach, Glochidion 
littorale showed its pretty pink fruit, accompanied by a colony of Sophora 
tomentosa. A single fine Pandanus dubius, about 2 m. high, spread its 
glistening broad leaves, and a clump of Cesalpinia Nuga was in the full glory 
of its lovely yellow blossom. Behind the mangroves a mass of pure coral 
detritus had accumulated, caught and retained by their roots, in which a large 
colony of Cycas circinalis luxuriated in all stages of growth. On the beach 
the following marine alge were collected :—Laurencia papillosa, Corallopsis 
Opuntia, Gymnosorus variegatus, Dictyota dichotoma, Enteromorpha compressa, 
Chetomorpha obscura, Halimeda Opuntia, H. Tuna, and Udotea orientalis. 
Rising on to the foothills we struck the same open sandstone formation as 
