ch. vii.] Textile Fabrics. 155 



or three girls will soon clean the day's supply, and by the 

 laughing and gossip indulged in one may infer that the 

 task is not a very unpleasant one to them. 



The farther one proceeds inland the more extensive 

 are the clearings devoted to rice culture. This is ac- 

 counted for by the fact that near the coast rice is often 

 imported in exchange for jungle produce, but far inland 

 the natives are obliged to grow all the food they require, 

 and in some cases as in the district to the south of Kina 

 Balu most of the hills up to 3000 feet are either under 

 rice culture, or are lying fallow, covered with low brush- 

 wood or jungle. Virgin land or old forests are rare here, 

 unless on the slopes of the great mountain itself. The 

 clothing of the aboriginals is in most cases very scanty, 

 now and then " sarongs " and white calico are obtained 

 from the coast in return for wax, gutta, tobacco, or other 

 produce of the hills, but, as a rule, the clothing of the 

 native tribes of the north of Borneo inland is a short 

 " sarong " made of a strong indigo-dyed cloth, which is 

 woven by the women from the strong fibres of the 

 " Lamba " (Curculigo latifolia), a yellow-flowered broad- 

 leaved weed, often seen in great abundance on old 

 cultivated plots near the houses. Many of the men, 

 especially those of the Murut tribes, who are perhaps the 

 most primitive of all the northern Borneans, wear 

 nothing but a strip of bark-cloth or " chawat " around 

 the loins, and I have no doubt but that this was the first 

 clothing ever worn by the natives of the island. This 

 bark-cloth is the produce of Artocarpus clastica, a tall 

 tree with a trunk two feet in diameter, and leaves closely 

 resembling those of the bread-fruit, but rough instead of 

 glossy. The inner bark is stripped off and soaked in 

 water, being afterwards beaten to render it soft and 

 pliable. Of this " chawats " or loin-cloths and jackets 



