THE TAWARAN AND PUT AT AN RIVERS. 271 



surroundings of tall cocoa-nut and spreading sago palms, 

 while dotted over the plain, the numerous wooded knolls rise 

 like islands amid a sea of green. It is a smiling landscape 

 abounding in soft beauty, and backed by a range of noble 

 mountains, with the father of them all — the towering Kina 

 Balu — rearing his lofty mass on the northern horizon. Indeed, 

 for general evidences of prosperity, plenty and industry, and 

 of well applied principles of cultivation carried out on a 

 most exhaustive and extensive scale, the Putatan district 

 may be fairly said to be unequalled in the whole of North 

 Borneo. The formation of the lowlands and foot-hills is 

 sandstone of recent formation. 



The Putatan does not apparently drain any of the Kina 

 Balu water-shed, although the river, which, as before stated, 

 goes by the name of the Pagunan above the confluence of the 

 Putatan river so called, can, I was informed, be ascended for 

 fifteen days. The Orang Tagds, a hill Dusun people, who 

 wear the chaw at, or bark loin-cloth, and who are found 

 .at the head-waters of all the rivers in "N.W. Borneo, from 

 the Tawaran to the Kimanis, inhabit the upper portion of 

 the river down to its debouchure from the main coast range. 

 I noticed a curious musical instrument, a species of guitar, 

 called by the Dusuns tonkoonong. This is made of a piece 

 of large bamboo about 2J feet long and has 6 strings which 

 are formed by the detaching and raising thin strips of the 

 bamboo sheath. These are tightened at will by pushing a 

 piece of wood along underneath each towards its point of junc- 

 tion with the bamboo. 



Their customs are much the same as those of the bulk of 

 the Dusun race. An intending bridegroom has to pay a 

 marriage portion for his bride. When a father dies, his lands 

 and property go to his sons, the eldest getting the largest 

 share. The widow has no share, but has a right to the usufruct 

 of the estate during her life, and the daughters have a claim 

 for support upon the estate until marriage. At his death, a 

 Dusun, if a poor man, is buried in the ground, a small house 

 being erected over his grave, from and above which various 

 coloured calico streamers are dependent. If a rich man, his 

 body is buried in a valuable old jar. The value of some of 



