April 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



833 



appears, as would be expected, very precipitous, but there 

 appear several smaller and easier ranges beneath. To- 

 morrow I expect a still better view. The people here 

 appear to be a very poor lot and live principally on kiladis. 

 On enquiring about Syap, which is a large village near 

 here, they tell us we cannot even get rice there, should 

 we want it. The paddy in this neighbourhood, it appears, 

 suffers from a grub, which attacks its roots when young, 

 but if the plant gets fairly started it does not suffer. This is 

 the reason these people buy rice from the people of Mumus. 

 September 20th. — We started early for a Wllage called 

 Padoss, which, we were informed, was nearer to Ivian than 

 8yap. The road, certainly, very steep and difficult, and was. 

 I should think, seldom used. From the top of the grass 

 hill we obtained another beautiful view of Kinabahu and 

 the Tambuyukan range. Here, the highest point of the 

 range called Nouahau I. Agaioh, looks fully 5,000 or 6.000 

 feet, the range being a continuation of Kinabahu. The 

 Dusuus appear to be gradually working their way to the 

 base of the mount, but there is still a large tract of forest in 

 reserve. The smaller ranges of Kinabahu appear to run 

 up to 3,000 and 4,000 feet. 8o far our journey had been 

 fairly satisfactory, but after this our guide took us through 

 some of the worst country imaginable. Our men, who had 

 got an extra supply of rice to carry, were compelled to go 

 up and down short cuts in the jungle without the smallest 

 trace of a track. I allowed Sir. Hatton to bless the man 

 for some time, and then I gave way as well. The fact of 

 the matter was he had lost his way. We erentually came out 

 some miles distant from the village we intended to get at. 



Sept. 21st. — A miserable wet morning and very unin- 

 viting for our journey, but we are short of rice and must 

 push on. AVe hoped to reach Kian today, but, owing to the 

 rain and flooded river.s, we did not even reach Tambuyuan, 

 the village I had previously stopped at. The incessant 

 chena around us would make the journey very uninter- 

 esting were it not for the fine view we get occasionally 

 of Kinabahu and surroundings. How we regret we did 

 not take the route via Syap. "We shall certainly return 

 tliat way if we ever reach Kian. While I am writing 

 there are some black clouds in the distance, though we are 

 at present under a scorching sun. Arrived at the river, 

 we fomid it too swollen to cross ; so we put up for the 

 night in an abandoned hut, over which we spread our water- 

 proof sheets and made ourselves as comfortable as we could. 

 Aft^r dinner we settled ourselves down to sleep, when the 

 rain commenced, blowing straight in and wetting us bag- 

 gage and all. I covered myself up in my rug and waited 

 for dayhght, and, as you may imagine, we neither of us had 

 a pleasant sleep. 



Sept. 22nd. — We found at daylight the river was more 

 swollen than yesterday, and, as oui- guide said we would 

 have larger ones to cross later on, we came to the conclu- 

 sion that we must retrace our steps, as our rice supply would 

 not allow us to wait, neither could we buy any on our way. 

 Our return journey was accompUshed quicker than we came. 

 Mouhaban we reached the same night and Upper Kias the 

 following, but at the last place we had to go to bed with- 

 out any food as a change, having overwalked our men. 

 Mr. Hatton now I remember had a sumptuous feed on 

 Indian corn, for which he was sorry the next day. - 



Sept. 24th. — I was up and away early to get something 

 to eat at Mr. Beveridge's, and then pu.shed on for IGna- 

 rum and went to bed with a good dose of fever. 

 Though our trip through the Sissio country was short 

 and we did not reach Kinabahu, nevertheless it was very 

 interesting. I was greatly taken with the Tambuyukan 

 range, which, with the country around Kinabahu, must 

 comprize many thousand acres with a general elevation, say 

 from 700 ft. to 4,O0U ft., the land as a rule being steep. I 

 forgot to mention that during the journey my aneroid got 

 out of order. This I found most annoying, as it is so im- 

 portant to know the elevation one is travelling at. It was 

 always securely packed, and I can only attribute its defect 

 to dampness. 



Sept. 27th. — Our men having to go to Bungon for rice 

 and feeling better I decided to proceed to Kias and join 

 Mr. Beveridge in a trip up Tambuyukan. 



Sept 28th. — I arrived at Kias last evening and this morn- 

 ing we made an early start in a S. W. direction, leaving 

 the river after a few himdred yards and commencing a 

 steep ascent with no sign of a road. The soil appeared ' 



very good, free of all sandstone, limestone taking its place 

 The timber was not so fine as I have seen elsewhere. We 

 crossed several ravines in our walk but discovered no water; 

 so when we arrived at the ridge I sent some of the men 

 away to find some for our evening meal, while the others 

 built a leaf hut. 



Sept. 29th. — This morning we continued our journey, de- 

 scending on the other side. It was very steep and rocky; 

 immense boulders of limestone and excellent soil. Descend- 

 ing to a ravine we found a small spring at which we halted 

 to have our breakfast, not knowing whether we would get 

 any farther on. Continuing our journey again we came 

 to a big landslip from which I was able to obtain a good 

 view of the range facing us. That is the one to follow 

 if one wishes to reach the top of Tambuyukan but in my 

 case without an aneroid it is not worth while. Descend- 

 ing again we heard the noise of a rush of water and soon 

 after arrived at a ravine which had a large supply. We 

 could have reached this yesterday it we had known water 

 was to be had. Leaving our men behind us to build loaf 

 huts, Mr. Beveridge and myself proceeded up the next 

 ridge. This same sort of travelling I am sure extends as 

 far as Kinabahu. We ascended as high as 2,500 and 

 then descended well pleased vrith what I had seen. 

 Planters who come to tliis country should pay this range 

 a visit. They could grow cocoa, pepper, anil Liberian coffee 

 at the lower elevations and tea, cinchona, cardamoms, C'offea 

 Arabica, etc., at the higher. Kias, the place I started 

 from,, can be reached in four days from Kudat v'a Bungon, 

 Timbaugbattu and Keroom. 



Sept. 3iuh. — It rained heavily diuing last night, but our 

 little leaf huts kept us dry. We decided to return by the 

 river, but the big boulders made it very difficult travelling, 

 and nmch more so when we got into the Kiuarum river. 

 Each side of the river was very precipitous, and it was 

 no joke to have to scramble up the sides anrl walk along 

 ■ to miss some high rapid below. The last one we came 

 to we managed in a different manner, sending our men 

 round with oiu: coats and boots while we swam the dis- 

 tance. We arrived safely at Kias, and Mr. Beveridge at 

 once packed up all his things and we pushe<l on for 

 Kinarura to meet Mr. Hatton, and then proceed together 

 on the .Sugut river trip, as mentioned previously. At 

 Kinarum we found Mr. Hatton was away searching for 

 some supposed birds' nests a short distance off. 



October 2nd. — Kinarum is a very warm place, being shut 

 in with jungle, but then it has a splendid bathing-pool, 

 which goes a long way to remedy the heat. Mr. Hat- 

 ton arrived iu the evening very exhausted, after an unsuc- 

 cessful attempt to find the caves. 



October 3rd. — We decided last night that Mr. Beveridge 

 and self should start at once for the Sugut country, but on 

 Mr. Hatton seeing the samples of quar'z collected during our 

 trip, one appeared to contain such good traces of copper 

 that ho decided to send Mr. Beveridge back and follow up his 

 search. This of course put all my arrangements out as I have 

 only seven men, which are insufficient for the journey 

 I have before me. However Mr. Hatton kindly placed 

 three of his men and some stores at my disposal, so that 

 I was able to make a start during the afternoon for the 

 village of Pomatum, passing on my way through flat 

 chena land with poor soil. Our direction is due east; to 

 the west I noticed a long range of forest close to 

 Tambuyukan and which is called Medallon. It appears 

 to run up to 3,000 or 4,000 ft. 



October 4th. — We left Pomatum early, but on arriving 

 at another small village farther on I found one of the men 

 was very bad with fever; so I had to stop and diWde 

 his load and send him back. From here our journey was 

 very trying, the hills being very steep and water scarce 

 At a small house in a clearing, I came across some 

 Kudat men who were collecting gutta in the neighbour, 

 ood. The jungle we passed through towards the latter- 

 part of the day had some splendid timber. .{Arrived at 

 Moroli, I put up in the house of Balanting, the head- 

 man. In my previous visit to this place I stopped at a 

 house on the opposite range. Here I was shewn a small 

 shrub called Home, the leaves of which closely resemble 

 that of a young cinchona succirubra in appearance. It 

 is used as a dye in the place of indigo. The leaves are 

 boiled and the thread or cloth is immersed in the liquor. 

 The plant they told mo was ready for plucking three 

 mouths after planting. 



