October i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



317 



\ 



stream we came to, the water of which we both 

 greatly appreciated. Our journey today resembled 

 closely that of the day before, but, owing to the 

 rain, we halted early in a small cave on the banks of 

 a stream ; which came in verj useful. This kind of 

 weather is very annoying to Mr. Witti, who has to 

 attend to the survey department of our trip. Our 

 guide whose teeth were chattering informed us this 

 was the last water we should get till we got to 

 the other side of the mountain, and strongly 

 advised us to stop, and so we did, but we cannot 

 believe these men, as we have already discovered 

 from experience. Owing to the cold we neither of 

 us got much sleep, the thermometer being 55 in the 

 morning. We were both glad to be on tlie move, 

 and soon found ourselves on a small native track 

 which was to take us over the range. At 6,280 we 

 obtained a very good view of the land around us. 

 The jungle was fine, and the soil excellent. One 

 peak to the S. S. W. must be over 7,000 feet. From 

 here our journey was rather difficult, being through 

 a region of moss, orchids, etc., but at last we reached 

 the pass at the top, which we found to be 7,000 feet. 

 Our reception, however, here was not very warm. 

 In the afternoon rain had already commenced and a 

 heavy mist spoiled all chance of a view. We, how- 

 ever, waited an hour, hoping it would stop, but it 

 became if anything worse ; so the order to proceed 

 was given, but not before we had named the pass 

 after Sir Rutherford Aloock and celebrated the event 

 with a drink from our flask, which for the first time 

 we found we required badly. Our men appeared 

 rather glad to descend from this cold spot, and I was 

 glad to find that our path on this side led down a 

 valley and not like on the other side a ridge. The 

 soil continued good, and ,the timber excellent ; fine 

 straight stems, aud no signs of wind or dampness. 

 We descended to 5,000 feet, and then made a house for 

 the night. The thermometer next morning quoted 60°. 

 We continued our descent, and at 2,000 feet came 

 to where two rivers met, the course of which we 

 followed, and soon came upon signs of cultivation, 

 eventually a miserable little house in which we put up. 

 The occupant appeared to gi'ow cassava principally, 

 which composed our dinner, the taste reminding 

 me very much of English chesnuts. Some toddy 

 also made from it was very good and better than that 

 I tasted previouly made from rice. On the following 

 day we found we had to retrace our steps a little, 

 and follow the course of the river we had left the 

 day before. Coming to a plain I obtained a view 

 of this side of the mountain. I should think the highest 

 average height would be about 5,0U0 feet. It will 

 be a very pretty sight when this range on both sides is 

 covered with plantations of tea, cinchona, cardamoms, 

 and coffee, as I have no doubt it will be some day. 

 Arrived at a small village we halted aud had some 

 hard-boiled eggs. The occupants of the house we 

 stopped at had aleo some meat in jars they were 

 anxious to sell our men. I fortunately left the house 

 before a jar was opened, but Mr. Witli, who came out 

 of the door like a ball out of a cannon, appeared to 

 have lingered a little too long. 



We were soon on our travels again and reached the 

 village we wanted to stop at", about 3 in the afternoon ; 

 found out the chief's house and made ourselves comforta- 

 ble. The male population, however, appeared all absent 

 but came in during the evening. I noticed skulls here 

 for the first time, but they did not appear good 

 samples. I was amused I<j see a leaf out of a novel 

 barierecl for a fowl, the natives looking upon it as a 

 sort of charm ; the pieces of broken glass and an empty 

 biscuit tin which one of our men had, also procured 

 two of the feathery tribe. Before night the u.snal 

 ceremony of friendship was gone through. On the 

 followiug mormog the whole ^lace was euveio|>e<l iu 



mist, but cleared soon after we were on our road. I 



noticed our party is daily increasing, as at every vil- 

 lage we come to these inhabitants want to come as 

 guides ; of course receiTing a small remuneration in 

 the shape of a piece of cloth Our journey for the 

 next few days had nothing of particular interest except 

 the rain and the leeches which were annoying, es- 

 pecially as we had to make rather long journeys. We 

 were today able to see the plain of Linibawan which 

 we are making for and which appears quite as big as 

 Tambunan. It was dark when we reached a fair- 

 sized house, and several of our men had tailed behind, 

 but turned up shortly afterwards. We found, however' 

 we could get very little rice and nothing else ; so we 

 decided to push on next moruing for a small villaoe 

 a little out of our way aud get our morning meal 

 then. Our guide informed us it was quite close. On 

 asking him what quite close n.eant, he said the time 

 occupied in reaching the village would be the same as 

 that required to smoke two cigarettes, but the cigarettes 

 this man is accustomed to smoke must be rather queer 

 ones, as we did not reach the place till nearly twelve 

 o'clock, but luckily we were able to get rice, coconuts and 

 plantains, to which we all did ample justice. After we 

 had finished our meal, we pushed on for Linibawan, cross- 

 ing a rather difficult river, but which we have by this 

 tune got accustomed to. This plain like Tambunan is 

 exceedingly pretty, but it was a feeling of regret to me 

 that this fine green extent was not paddy instead of 

 being covered with the lalang and other coarse grasses. 

 We walked some distance before we reached the village. 

 Mr. Witti, who had stopped here once before, 

 painted it in rather dark colours, but 1 must say he 

 did not at all exaggerate the picture, the people and 

 their dwelling-places being filthy. It is here the 

 custom to bury the dead in jars, which they place under 

 their houses and heap up a small mound of earth round 

 it, but piggy and his friends soon knock this down — in 

 fact, most of the jars I saw had the earth at the top 

 removed. In enterin;; the village we came across a 

 party of women gaily dressed. On enquiry I was 

 informed that this waa their drinking costume, and that 

 they were on their way to one of these festivals. 

 The chief placed a house at our disposal and ayoun" 

 buffalo was purchased, which an hour afterwards 

 we were all busily eating. It had been under- 

 stood between Mr. Witti and myself that from 

 here we were to strike across to Sebookoa, 

 our south-eastern boundary, the country having 

 never been explored, but from letters we found 

 awaiting us we were requested not to do so, as the 

 boundary question with the Dutch Government was 

 now being settled, and our travelling through the 

 country might lead to some misunderstanding. It 

 was very disappointing, but we were both glad the 

 letter reached us in time, as we should have been 

 sorry if our trip had raised any ill-feeling. Mr. 

 Witti continues his survey, but the country he is 

 going to visit does not require attention so 

 much as other localities ; so I return to Kiraanis, our 

 present south-western boundary. On the followiug 

 morning Mr. Witti and his remaining followers saw 

 us some way on our road aud we then parted, both 

 sorry to leave each other but anticipating another 

 pleasaut trip together before long. 



My party consist of men who have tl e pluck but not 

 the stamina to follow their leader. Prom 900 feet we 

 ascended to a village at 2,400 and put up init for the 

 night, the country we had passed through being prin- 

 cipally Dusun gardens which contained the usual sugar- 

 cane, Indian corn, tobacco and rice. On the follow, 

 ing morning ne continued our journey, having pro- 

 cured a guide who was to take us to a village 

 at which we would arrive at 4 o'clock, but this guide 

 turned out a regular scamp. We reached his village 

 at 10 o'clock, and of coarse I decliiied to stop, not- 



