294 The Garde7is of the Sun. [ch. xiv. 



have I seen such groves of " tarippe " trees as surround 

 this village. When we last visited " Kiua Balu" in 

 December, " langsat " fruit was in season, and met with 

 at nearly all the Tawaran villages. Now, in August, the 

 " tarippe," rich and luscious, is most abundant, and now 

 and then a coarse brown fruit, something like a horse- 

 mango, is obtained, and is agreeable for a change. The 

 perfume of the ripe " tarippe " fruit was most cheering 

 to ourselves and our men, and almost as soon as we had 

 got off our wet garments, and put on dry ones, a dusky 

 maiden appeared with four large fruit in her plump little 

 arms. She was dressed a la mode Dusun, and had wire 

 wristlets, and a heavy wire anklet an inch thick, which 

 must have weighed two or three pounds, around her left 

 leg. A younger child brought us some fine plump 

 bananas, which we found to be rich and luscious as new 

 honey, leaving an aroma in the mouth like that produced 

 by ripe filberts and old dry port. 



We had a large concourse of the villagers in to see us 

 this evening after dinner, including " Beuhan," the head- 

 man, who wears a head-cloth and kriss, and in general 

 build and physiognomy resembles the Sums much more 

 than either Dusun or Malays. " Kurow " was the prin- 

 cipal talker, and related all that we had done and how 

 much he had helped us in ascending the mountain. The 

 young girls crowded to see us, and tried hard to get 

 speech with us. We had given the girls who brought us 

 fruit a looking-glass each, and we could quite well under- 

 stand that all were eager for a similar gift. They were 

 very, very scantily clad ; indeed the most tolerant of Lord 

 Chamberlains might well wish to add an inch or two to 

 their tiny petticoat, especially as 'tis the only garment of 

 which they can boast. It answers somewhat to the 

 American definition of a dress " which began too late and 



