ch. vii.] Native Villages. 151 



with gambier or pepper, he looks for a fair return. Here, 

 alone in the forest, or at the best with a companion or 

 two equally poor as himself, he subsists on a little boiled 

 rice, until his crops of sweet potatoes, bananas, sugar- 

 cane, egg fruit, maize, and yams, are fit for use ; for one 

 of his first cares has been to clear the bit of land around 

 his hut, on which to plant the few roots and seeds which 

 he has brought with him, most probably the gift of one of 

 his richer countrymen, perchance of the trader of whom 

 he bought the bag of rice, which with a little freshly 

 caught fish from the river, are the only " stores " which 

 stand between him and starvation, until his garden pro- 

 duce is available. I have often come across these clear- 

 ings right in the heart of the forest, miles away from any 

 other human habitation, and have been as much aston- 

 ished at the amount of labour performed with such a 

 simple tool, as the thrifty labourer himself was to see 

 me. 



The Dusun villagers keep bees and export wax in 

 quantity, and most of the tribes collect the varied natural 

 products of the sea or of the forests in their respective 

 districts. The Sulus were until quite recently a warlike 

 race inhabiting the large island of Sulu, between Borneo 

 and the Philippines. They were independent and ruled 

 by a Sultan, who held Sulu, Tawi Tawi, and the north of 

 Borneo, including the fine harbour of Sandakan. The 

 Sulus, however, are now practically under the Manilla 

 Government. Slavery, although not yet abolished in 

 Borneo, is not nearly so common as was formerly the 

 case. The native government at Brunei is practically 

 under the eye of the British governor of Labuan, and 

 thus many former abuses have become mitigated merely 

 by the moral influence of a British colony being located 

 thus near to the capital. 



