272 THE TAWARAN AND PUTATAN RIVERS. 



these old jars is very great, amounting in some instances to 

 hundreds of dollars, and the expenses of the funeral obsequies 

 of an opulent Dusun chief often amount to over $600, buffaloes 

 being killed and eaten, tuak consumed in large quantities, 

 obat (fetish ceremonies) performed, etc. 



Although the Putatan cannot properly be described as a 

 sago river, its delta would afford a large area of land suitable 

 for planting the sago palm, the land being low-lying and 

 swampy, and abutting on a good water-way on either side. 

 The highlands of the interior are easily accessible up its 

 valley, the climate is salubrious and pleasant, the population 

 large and well-disposed, but the lands along its banks are 

 firmly held and highly valued, and it is doubtful whether any 

 area of such land could ever be brought into the market. 



The course of the main Putatan, or Telipuk, to the sea, 

 from the point at which the Patagas branch diverges from it, 

 is somewhat tortuous but has a good depth of water. Its 

 mouth, however, as already stated, is shoal and difficult of 

 entry. An examination of an outcrop of the strata on its 

 right bank, on the way down, shewed the strike to be S.E. 

 with a dip of about 80°. A mangrove growth extends up both 

 banks for a short distance from the knala, and also along 

 the coast on either side, and there is no beach available for 

 landing on. This is not the case with the Patagas mouth 

 which has a sandy beach and true jungle close to the sea 

 with however mangroves inside. 



As regards the state of cultivation of the tract watered by 

 it, the Putatan may be fairly classed as the show r river of North 

 Borneo. 



S. ELPHINSTONE DALRYMPLE. 



[Erratum:— Page 270, line 2, for COO read 6,000.] 



