290 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. xiv. 



trees and then to burn them during the dry season. The 

 old stumps are left, and to prevent the rich earth and 

 forest debris from being washed away by heavy rains, 

 logs are laid against these horizontally all down the steep 

 shoulders of the spurs. Land newly cleared yields 

 splendid crops of hill or dry rice, maize, kaladi, tobacco, 

 sweet potato, and other crops. There is very little primi- 

 tive forest on these lower hill ranges and spurs, nearly 

 all the land not now actually under culture being fallow, 

 in the shape of low jungle. The only really virgin 

 forest is the tops of the hills beyond Kiau and the 

 spurs of Kina Balu itself on the south and east sides. 

 On our way to Koung to-day we had a lot of trouble 

 owing to the swollen and rapid state of the river, which 

 we crossed no less than thirteen times. All along our 

 waj r we saw little torrents of muddy water pouring into 

 the river from the hill- sides. The two last times we had 

 to cross the stream previous to our reaching the regular 

 ford at the entrance to Koung village were really very 

 dangerous, and I shudder when I think of the surging 

 torrents we crossed, and of the large treacherous boulders, 

 water-worn and as smooth as ice, which lay hidden in 

 their beds. 



I rode my buffalo : Smith walked and clung to the 

 ropes which held the saddle. The banks of the stream 

 were overflowed so that we could not tell exactly the 

 proper place to cross. My buffalo was a brave and care- 

 ful animal, and must have been possessed of immense 

 power, seeing how she carried me and dragged poor Smith 

 over safely. I shall never forget our last crossing. We 

 had missed the proper place to ford without our knowing 

 it. The place we had chosen to cross was, as we after- 

 wards found, a succession of smooth boulders and deep 

 holes. The buffalo had to feel its way, and when in 



