68 AN EXPEDITION TO MOUNT KIN A BALU. 



many cases covered by rattan matting-, and in a few cases the 

 owners of the houses brought me a special mat to sit upon. The 

 space below the houses was generally inhabited by pigs, but 

 though they grunted day and night, it did not interfere with 

 our peace. Much more annoying was the continuous coughing 

 of the people, many of them seeming to suffer from chronic 

 colds. Taken altogether, the stay in the Dusun houses was far 

 from pleasant, and on dull days exceedingly dreary, but, after 

 our experience at Kalawat, it was preferable to camping in the 

 open. 



Food. As I mentioned before, the last padi crop was a 

 failure in N. Borneo, but even in prosperous years it would pro- 

 bably be impossible to get sufficient rice from the different vil- 

 lages for a large body of carriers, and on this occasion people 

 did not even like to sell a few cents' worth. In the district we 

 visited communication is a matter of intense difficulty, every- 

 thing has to be carried by man, the hilly parts are quite impas- 

 sable for bullocks, and the rivers are torrents along which even 

 the smallest crafts could not find a passage except for a few 

 hundred yards at a time. However, in almost every village I 

 was able to get fowls and eggs for my own consumption, the 

 former ranging in price between 10 and 20 cents, sometimes 

 even less, and eggs from 1 to 2 cents. But large parties would 

 probably have been unable to get sufficient. Milk was unknown. 

 Coco-nuts we got in every village free of charge, and they were 

 always welcome. There was practically no house without a 

 group of coco-nut and betel-nut palms close by. Two or three 

 times we got Langsats, which seemed to grow half wild, espe- 

 cially near Koung. They were very refreshing, but unusually 

 sticky. 



Scientific Results. 



Mammals. 



From the list given below it will be noticed that no big 

 game was obtained during the expedition. The largest mammal 

 seen was a black long-tailed monkey, probably Semnopithecus 

 femoralis, observed near Gantian. However, in the mountain jun- 

 gle between Kappa and Kalawat, we passed several traps which 

 we were told were intended for Tembadaus (Bos sondaiats). 



