250 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in the left hand and occasionally giving a twist to the spindle 

 with the right hand. The people know of no other minerals be- 

 sides coal and iron pyrites. Their houses accommodate from ten 

 to fifteen persons, and they do not keep pigs under their houses as 

 other sea-coast tribes are in the habit of doing. Their sleeping- 

 hours are peculiar. No bedding is used, but they sleep on mats 

 till about midnight, when they wake up shivering with the cold 

 of these inland mountains. A fire is then lighted on a large, oval- 

 shaped hearth, that is made of clay in the center of each house, 

 and all the inmates, young and old, sit round the fire until dawn 

 in a crouching attitude, telling long-winded stories, sometimes 

 nodding, and sometimes leaning against his or her neighbor with 

 head resting on the knees. Their chants at night-time are doleful 

 and monotonous in tone. For striking a light, the men carry in 

 their waist-belt a small bamboo prettily carved, in which some 

 tinder and a bit of porcelain are kept out of the rain. By holding 

 the tinder and the piece of broken plate in the right hand, and 

 striking it sharp on the side of the bamboo, the tinder is ignited." 

 One of the objects of the expedition was to put a stop to the 

 head-hunting raids between the Murut tribe and their traditional 

 enemies the Peluans, the latter not representing a particular tribe, 

 but the aborigines of the interior generally. "The Muruts are 

 very frank in napaing and numbering the heads they had taken ; 

 and I found the debit and credit account to be as follows : The 

 Muruts have taken twenty-six heads of Peluans, the Peluans have 

 taken thirty-one heads of Muruts ; balance in favor of the Peluans, 

 five heads, and also four Muruts who were wounded in the last 

 affray. Each tribe distrusts the other, and peace can be only 

 made by the Peluans paying a commensurate amount of blood- 

 money in compensation for five heads that stand against them." 

 Word was therefore sent to the Peluans to come down to a parley 

 at an appointed time, with guarantee of safe-conduct. When the 

 chiefs of the two sides had been brought together, " the Murut 

 chiefs commenced taking the oath by chopping at a stick or sap- 

 ling with great vigor, repeating the words of the oath with a loud 

 voice, until toward the end they appeared quite excited. A Murut 

 chief took the oath and then a Peluan, turn about, and, as each 

 oath takes six or seven minutes to repeat, it took a long time. The 

 following is a precis of the form of oath, each + denoting a chop 

 at the stick, until it is finally chopped into little bits : ' I follow 

 the Government of the British North Borneo Company +. The 

 Sandewar -f and the Peluan + people are now of one mind +• If 

 I kill a Sandewar " (if a Peluan is swearing) " man -f- when I go to 

 the water, may I not be able to drink + ; when I go to the jungle 

 may I not be able to eat +. May my father die -f, may my mother 

 die -|-, may my house be burned down -j-, may the paddy not grow 



