KINA BALU, 
109 
reception in Iviau, and they would have gone without rice if we had not supplied them; 
these villagers, however, seldom visit each other. To a European they are very hospitable— 
lighting fires and doing their best to make him comfortable. There is, however, in all their 
dealings with one another a certain callousness and a desire to ridicule the sufferings of 
the less fortunate. This feeling I especially noticed: on the march when mere boys got 
into difficulties with their heavy loads, instead of being assisted by their stronger comrades 
they were more often chaffed. The women mix freely with the men, and some of the old 
hags carry great weight in the village discussions. They are good-tempered and easily 
managed with firmness and kindness, though of course, as amongst ourselves, there are men 
with whom it is impossible to deal. 
The people are generally healthy; as medicine is unknown, so the weedy ones die. 
Many, however, suffer from bad sores on their shins, brought about by weakness and want 
of good food, as there are seasons of scarcity, when the Dusuns are reduced to the verge 
of starvation. Small-pox from time to time commits terrible havoc amongst them; numbers 
of Dusuns in Melangkap were deeply pitted by this disease. Kurrup, that most filthy skin- 
disease, is occasionally noticed, when the presence of the “kurruped” is not in the least 
objected to. One or two men died of swellings or tumours on the face and neck while I 
was in Melangkap. Their most amusing anecdotes are generally more or less lewd, the 
more so the greater the merriment; they often chatter and laugh long past midnight, 
especially when there is a good supply of “ tuak ” or arrak in the house, when the men 
get quarrelsome at times in their cups. Of their religion I was unable to gain much 
information. The old hags of the villages are the priestesses. The belief is, that all the 
dead go to the top of Kina Balu, which is the abode of all spirits. In every house is to 
be seen a curious bunch of charms to keep away evil spirits. This bunch consists of all 
sorts of rubbish, or rather anything curious to the Dusun. Never visiting the coast, he 
knows not of the abundance there of bits of coral and nipa-seeds, so when he has such an 
article given him he carefully ties it up in the household bunch, together with teeth of 
animals, curiously twisted roots, eagles’ feet, and anything that to him is out of the common. 
This miscellaneous collection is tied with a bunch of grass to a short bamboo, and used to 
exorcise evil spirits or “hantus.” I could never succeed in purchasing such a bunch, as they 
said it kept away evil spirits, and they dare not sell them. So great is their belief in these 
curious-shaped roots and bits of rubbish, that occasionally they would ask us to shoot at 
these charms, thinking we could not blow them to pieces. Head-hunting is carried on in an 
indifferent sort of way, heads being seldom seen in the houses, and often enough the broken 
remains of skulls may be found hanging outside the windows in rattan baskets. The 
vendetta feeling is strong amongst these tribes, and they generally go on the war-path after 
the rice-harvest, for the purpose of paying off old scores. The villagers of Kiau, Koung, 
and surrounding districts are, however, decided head-hunters, and, I believe, make annual 
expeditions. The old head-collecting instinct, however, is still existent, and shows itself in 
the form of a collection of animals’ skulls, including those of monkeys, deer, pigs, rats, &c., 
&c., which are carefully preserved and hung up in strings, or tied to the attaps in nearly 
every house. 
They believe all diseases are caused by evil spirits, and anxiously inquired if I lived 
