My Field Trip to Ulu Kinabatangan, 

 North Borneo, 

 With Robert Inger 



By Chin Phui Kong 



I MET ROBERT INGER for the first time in April or May, 

 1950, in my home town of Sandakan, Colony of North 

 Borneo (now Sabah). He came to visit my office 

 together with the late Dwight Davis. * They were in 

 North Borneo on the Borneo Zoological Expedition of 

 the Field Museum of Natural History. I had joined the 

 Fisheries Department some 10 months earlier, and my 

 first job in the department had been to conduct a sur- 

 vey of the fish fauna of the colony. After 10 months 

 of intensive collection, my office was full offish 

 specimens — both marine and fresh-water. When they 

 arrived, our conversations naturally concentrated on 

 fishes. From that conversation it became apparent that 

 Bob and I had many interests in common and our 

 friendship started from there. 



My next encounter with Robert Inger was in 

 April, 1956 — six years after we first met. This time we 

 spent more than one month together. I took an active 

 part accompanying him on his zoological expedition 

 trip to Ulu Kinabatangan, or the upper course of the 

 Kinabatangan River. The Kinabatangan is the longest 

 river in North Borneo; it originates in the Witti Range 

 in the interior, follows a course of some 560 km through 

 rain forests, nipah and mangrove swamps, before 

 emptying its muddy water into the Sulu Sea. The river 

 is navigable by large launches as far as Lamag, and well 

 beyond that point by smaller launches and shallow- 

 draught crafts powered by outboard motors. Earlier Bob 

 had bought supplies, recruited field workers and skill- 

 fully obtained a motored kumpit (an all-purpose sea- 

 going native wooden boat) from the United Timbers 

 Ltd. in Sandakan. The company had opened up a new 

 logging camp at Deramakot (about 330 km from Sanda- 

 kan) in Ulu Kinabatangan. A motored kumpit was a 



rare commodity in those days, and Bob obviously had 

 made the right connections with the Forestry Depart- 

 ment and the timber company's boss. 



We set sail to Deramakot from Sandakan on the 

 morning of the 18th April, 1956. A small motored 

 kumpit named M/B Pina was loaded with our collecting 

 gear, supplies, and with Gaun, our Iban hunter; 

 Awang, the cook and two other workers. At Mumian, 

 one of the estuaries of the Kinabatangan River and, 

 about 30 km from Sandakan, we picked up more 

 supplies — atap and kajang (local roofing and walling 

 materials made of nipah leaves). We reached Sukau at 

 1630 hr and tied up at the Sheng Kee Timber Camp 

 jetty. The Camp's kongsi (a long-house, including 

 office stores, shop and hostel for timber workers) was 

 situated on a slope some 9 m higher than the river in 

 order that it would be above water during floods. The 

 manager of the camp was very hospitable, and he in- 

 vited Bob and me to stay at his kongsi for the night. We 

 gladly accepted. 



The next morning I was awakened by the sound 

 of a gong at 0300 hr, which called the logging crew to 

 get up. Bob and I got up at 0430 hr, had breakfast, and 

 were on our way up the river by 0535 hr. The river was 

 quiet, but covered with thick mist, which gradually 

 thinned away when the sun rose. The going was 

 smooth but for a 20-minute engine breakdown when 

 we ran out of diesel fuel in the tank. There were many 

 monkeys and wild pigs on the river banks. I counted 

 30 pigs before we reached Lamag. At about 1730 hr 

 we passed by Bukit Garam, where the river was calm 

 and glittering in the setting sunlight. It was very 

 beautiful. We arrived at Lamag, the government's 

 administration center of the Kinabatangan District, at 



*D. Dwight Davis (1908-65) was Curator of Vertebrate Anatomy 

 at Field Museum. 



Chin Phui Kong, now Aquacultural Consultant, was formerly 

 Director of Fisheries, Fisheries Department, Sabah. 



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