83° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



which was irrigated from the river, embankments of stone 

 and mud having been made. Each little square I noticed 

 was kept free from weeds while the paddy looked re- 

 markably well. I wanted to reach Kian today, but owing 

 to the late hour at which we started iu the morning 

 I found it impossible, so I decided to stop the night at 

 Tambutuan, but to reach this spot we had to climb a hill 

 of 1,200 feet. It was very steijp, but 1 was able to gain 

 some idea of the soil, which was what I wanted. Arrived 

 at the top I found 1 was monarch of all I surveyed, so 

 sat down and waited for some of the men. At last my 

 servant and interpreter Sandy arrived, and we entered the 

 village, found the headman at home, who welcomed us to 

 to his house. "We quickly made a raid on the coconut 

 trees around us, and having changed our clothes were 

 soon as comfortable as we could be. The neighbours 

 around came pouring in to see us, and Sandy, who had 

 been here before with Jlr. Burbridge, found numbers of old 

 acquaintances especially of the female sex. The old chief 

 was great fun and we smoked and talked till very late. 

 Master Sandy I found was also spending a pleasant even- 

 ing from the shouts of laughter that came from the next 

 room. I had the curiosity to look in wliile passing, and 

 found him surrounded by an admiring crowd of girls whose 

 fortunes he was pretending to tell. 



August 6th. —The chief was very anxious to go through 

 the ceremony of making us his brothers, but, as I knew 

 we would have to give him a suitable prtsent in retm-u I 

 declined, as we must economize our stock of barter goods, 

 which consists of beads, dark blue cloth, white cloth, 

 needles, small looking-glasses, and a few coloured handker- 

 chiefs. Our descent was if anything too early accom- 

 plished, there having been a heavy dew overnight. Arrived 

 below we followed our track of yesterday. Before reach- 

 ing Kian we came across what must have been an old 

 village, as a few coconut trees, sago, etc., etc., were to 

 be seen. From the appearance of the land round about 

 I should say they had moved on to some other place owing 

 to the land being exhausted. We arrived at Kian about 

 10 o'clock, a small but pretty village on the banks of the 

 river. From the number of young people amusing them- 

 selves in the river it would appear to be washing day. 

 I did not care to stop as I wanted to reach Kian before 

 night, so passed on and waited for my men iu the river. 

 From here I obtained al splendid view of okl Kinabahu. 

 Passing on again we met several parties travelling down 

 from the Kian direction with tobacco, potatoes, etc., which 

 they were taking to barter for rice. They seemed to think 

 naturally we were making for Kinabahu. In crossing the 

 river a little farther up we came across the chief of 

 Kian with plenty of men. We had a short talk and 

 then he acted as guide to Kian. The finish of our journey 

 yesterday was steep but nothing to the one today — a short 

 cut up through some patna to 2,900 feet. Arrived however 

 at the top we were rewarded with a splendid view 

 of the smTounding country. The chief's house looks down 

 the valley which we have been travelling up and very 

 little jungle is to be seen, but behind us Kinabahu has 

 a good supply. The old chief mentioned by Mr. St. John 

 is dead and another reigns in his stead. My object iu 

 coming to Kian was to ascend Kinabahu as far as 4,000 or 

 5,000 feet, and see what the soil, jimgle, etc., were like, 

 but I find it is impracticable, as we ciiunot beg a grain 

 of rice here, and the journey there and back will take 

 four days. It is very annoying but it cannot bo helped 

 I shall cross some of the smaller ranges tomorrow and so. 

 shall get some idea of the soil. I had fondly hoped to 

 have made an attempt to reach the highest point of the 

 mountain (not however taking my own nieu, as they would, 

 I feel sure, have been prostrated, for the rest of the journey) 

 but getting some of the men of Kian. The journey how- 

 ever to the base had to be postponed ; a trip to Kinabahu 

 must be a trip of itself, aud not as we are, bound for 

 Bungon in the Marudu Bay, several days' journe}' from 

 here. The cattle I saw grazing on the patana in front 

 were as fine as any I have seen in Eorueo. I fancy the 

 climate and fodder must be in a great way the cause. 

 1 shall not easily forget the shock of a cold water bath 

 up here : it was very different to the warm water one 

 gets on the coast. The chief who bad been out all day came 

 iback in the evening with his wife, both in a high state of 

 ntoxication, at which he seemed very proud. Mr. Saunder 8 



procured some very fair samples of tobacco, but I anticipate 

 he will get better as he journeys on. The natives here 

 appeared to think they would make a fortune out of us 

 in bartering, but they were mistaken, as they got nothing 

 except what I gave the chief as a present. I saw here 

 for the first time a musical instrument resembling a bag- 

 pipe which was made out of a pumpkin. 



August 8th. — The thermometer was 66. I was glad to 

 make an early start. Our track took us down to the river 

 again, which we crossed several times, aud then struck off aud 

 ascended the hill facing Kian, passing on our way tobacco 

 gardens. We arrived at last at the bottom of the range 

 that separates this valley from the next, which we 

 slowly ascended. I examined the soil, which appeared very 

 good, and took a sample for analysis, the elevation being 

 3,000. Higher up I came across a newly-burnt clearing, the 

 soil of which was similar to that I had seen below. Ar- 

 rived on the ridge 4,700, we found an abandoned clearing 

 from which we obtained a fine view. To the east aud ad- 

 joining Kinaljabu I see fine jungle, but at a high elevation, 

 say from 3,500 and upward, while to the south-east one 

 sees the supports to Kinabahu, as mentioned in the late 

 Mr. Witti's diary, and with fine forest on them. The near 

 ranges are called Siago and Sungei. In front below us are 

 two villages separated by a small valley from each other. 

 They are called Tuan andTioug aud must have sixty houses 

 between them. We appear to be in altogether a dif- 

 ferent country since we crossed the range. We were not 

 long iu arriving at Tuan. We found the inhabitants very 

 suspicious of us. 1 told them not to be afraid, as we did 

 not intend to hurt them. I don't know that they said any- 

 thing in reply, but I fancy, when they saw my few weary 

 followers without any sign of a weapon they must have 

 thouf/ht a lot. I enquired for the headman, but they said 

 there was not one ; every man was equal. On my asking 

 for a house they declinud to give me one : so we rested 

 under njalc tree while I sent some of my men to look for 

 some of their race, viz., Bagows. One was quickly found 

 and we were soon all comfortably housed, all the inhabit- 

 ants of the place coming to have a look at the white men. 

 1 told Sandy to do a little bartering, as we were out of 

 rice, but as usual the people want more than we are in- 

 clined to give. We shall, 1 think, be better able to do it to- 

 morrow, when they see we are on the point of starting. 

 I noticed jack, lime, and orange trees, all of which appeared 

 to thrive wonderfully well. There are also a good number 

 of wraps of straw on the house-tops, which indicates 

 heads within, but in the house we stopped at I did not 

 see any. The reason of the people here being suspicious 

 is easily accounted for. In general cases we always ob- 

 tain a guide, and, if we arrive at a strange village, the people 

 know in the course of a minute or so who we are, where 

 we came from, where we are going to, etc., but in this 

 case one of the men knew the way ; so it was not necessary 

 to get a guide. 



August 9th.— We were delayed till past seven buying 

 rice, the women having, as I anticipated, lowered their terms. 

 Having obtained as much as we could carry, and our guide 

 being ready, we continued our journey, the road taking us 

 down to a small river called the Began, which we ftdlowed for 

 some distance ami then ascended a steep bill to a small 

 village on some pitana sailed Kinan D sun. The meu being 

 some distance behind I sat down aud admired the view. 

 To the south-west I noticed range after range of jungle, 

 but this is often very deceiving. For on steering for the' 

 expected ranges you find the eye has caught all the top 

 ridges which generally are uncleared, wliile'below the land 

 is either in a state of ciJtivation or abandoned. Rouud 

 about me I find small chena is being felled, the ashes and 

 burnt soil being, I sujipose, sufficient to raise a crop of 

 paddy. The stragglers having arrived, we continued our 

 journey, which was incessant ups and downs through cbeua, 

 and the rain wliich commenced to fall made the ground 

 verj slippery. At one o'clock we arrived at Kapuringan, 

 aud here our guide dechned to go farther, but luckily we 

 found a man and his wife who were going our way and 

 who acted as guides.^ "We travelled through a good deal of 

 bamboo and then arrived at a large village on the hanks 

 of the Yaggo river. The headman was out, but we made 

 oiu:selvus comfortable nuvertbeless. 



August 10th.— It raiued all night and in the morning 

 I found our host had not yet arrived. The cocks crow 



