NORTH BORNEO. 
G5 
turned out to be true, though at the time, and until I received a letter from one of the officers 
of this expedition, I thought it merely a subterfuge on the part of the Bajows to make me 
abandon my designs. On the 17th I received the letter mentioned, stating that as all the 
tribes were on the war-path it would be dangerous and foolish of me to attempt to proceed 
inland: as a matter of fact I could not have done so if I had wished, having no means 
of conveying my baggage; so it was now a certainty that I should not reach the mountain 
this year. In later years, when I became intimate with the inland DUsuns, I found it was 
their annual custom for large parties of young men to go on the war-path about this period 
after the rice-harvest, when, if they are lucky, they may stalk and carry off the head of some 
unfortunate enemy. Two months before we arrived here, a few Kong and Kiau Dusuns 
made one such expedition right down to the Tampassuk plains, where they killed a Bajow 
and carried his head and limbs away with them; this was the continuation of an old blood- 
feud, and when the Bajows have a chance they will retaliate. On the 16th of this month 
a Tampassuk Bajow was shot dead by another from Pandasan; buffalo-stealing was the 
cause, but being a somewhat common occurrence this event caused little or no commotion 
amongst the inhabitants. The Datu went to view the body, and probably no steps will be 
taken to bring the murderer to justice, except by the relatives of the murdered man, who 
will carry on the vendetta on the first opportunity. 
Having now occupied the Datu’s house longer than he wished, partly in the hope that 
to get rid of us he would find the necessary buffaloes, and as it is now' impossible, owing to 
the Company’s police-expedition, to proceed inland, we resolved to relieve the Datu of our 
unwelcome presence, and asked him to lend us one of his small houses in a paddi-field close 
by. In this place I remained until 25th February, hoping that perhaps after all I might be 
able to start inland ; on that date I gave it up as a bad job, and returned with all my 
belongings to Abai. 
Food seems very abundant and cheap on the Tampassuk, but money is in small demand, 
trade-cloth and turkey-red, matches, knives, cottons, looking-glass, boxes, &c., &c. fetching 
in actual value more than twice the amount that specie will when bartered for food amongst 
these people. 
We remained in Abai until the 12th of March, when the Assistant-Resident left in the 
‘ Kimanis ’ and we were able to return to Pulo Gaya. There is little or nothing to be 
done in Abai, the country round being parched up and almost destitute of birds. A few' 
fine Sambur deer are to be met with in the evenings, but it is a great chance if one secures 
one. It used to blow heavy gales of wind every day, making it impossible to reach Gaya in 
any craft procurable on this river, so we had to sit down and wait patiently, wasting our time. 
The Hadji in my employ is becoming quite a nuisance; he commences his prayers at day¬ 
break in a sing-song monotonous tone and continues them at intervals throughout the day, 
while the rest of his companions sit round laughing at some anecdote which is being related 
by one of their number, and, after the style of Malay tales, is far from proper: the Hadji, 
though studiously bowfing his head to Allah, every now and then joins in with the lewd 
conversation of his companions, as a sort of slight relaxation. In Abai we met with a crew 
of shipwrecked Dyaks ; they w r ere returning from the island of Palawan, where they had 
been on a trading-expedition, and their prahu was driven ashore near this place. The 
K 
