June 14, 1858.] CRESPIGNY’S NOTES ON BORNEO. 
349 
understood by them. The language of the Dusuns sounds at first, 
from the frequency of words having the accent on the last syllable 
and not as usual in Malay on the penultimate, unpleasant from its 
roughness, but after a little while it is not unmusical to the ear. 
Some words are identical with the Sulu, many with the Malay, 
and others very similar to the latter. The prefix “ meng •” is 
common in their verbs, even when the words are different from 
Malay. I did not remark any affix such as are frequent in the latter 
language. 
In their social institutions the Dusuns or Idaan are cleanly in 
their habits, and their dwellings are neat and tidy in the interior. 
I was present at a birth, a marriage, and a death. No ceremony 
took place on these occasions, but after the birth, the mother died in 
a few hours from hemorrhage and exhaustion. When there was no 
doubt of her being in a dying state, she was brought out of her little 
cabin, and laid in the general long room or verandah, where all the 
people gathered round her and commenced a howling chorus which 
emulated that of a troop of their own dogs, and which was con- 
tinued until the spirit had fled. The marriage I spoke of was 
performed by torch-light; a hog was killed and a feast held, 
after which a chorus was sung by all the women and children for 
several hours, which was really very pretty, but of its purport I 
am ignorant, and the happy couple were at length dismissed with 
loud acclamations. 
Concerning the produce of the country I can say but little. Rice 
of a good quality is grown on the slopes of the mountains. Of fruit 
there was but little, the cocoa-nut, jack-fruit, mango, and banana, 
with a small durian, making, I believe, the sum total, and these in 
but small quantities. Of vegetables, the small sweet potato and the 
onion mark the beginning and end of their knowledge. Tobacco 
of an excellent quality, and highly esteemed by the Malays, is grown 
in larger quantities than nearer Bruni. The forests produce a little 
camphor and a little bees’-wax, much damar, two kinds of gutta- 
trees, and perhaps even more, caoutchouc, rattans of great length, 
and probably many more useful commodities which my’ want of 
opportunity prevented my observing. 
I am not prepared to say anything definite on the subject of trade 
at present, except that I have met in the course of my journey in 
the north many native traders and others from the eastern portion 
of the Archipelago. My next trip will probably be to some of the 
rivers on the eastern side of Borneo, and on my return I trust to 
be able to communicate to the Society some interesting information. 
If I had but a gun-boat, or, better still, such a steam-boat as they 
