IvINA BALU : SECOND EXPEDITION. 
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Melangkaps over to continue to Kiau, not liking to clo without a share of the white man’s 
goods. I passed through this village on several occasions after this, always avoiding the 
inhabitants, camping a short distance on either side of it. A short distance from Koung 
is the village of Labong Labong; one of the villagers being in Koung at the time of our 
visit, this man did his best to persuade us to follow the route through his village to Kiau, 
but we followed the Tampassuk. 
The ford at the end of Koung village is rather a nasty one, being deep and rapid; the 
rest of the way leads up the valley of the Tampassuk, occasionally in the river-bed or in the 
native fields. The river has to be forded several times before the foot of Kiau hill is 
reached. On the banks of shingle in the dried-up bed of the river that curious plant Coix 
lacliryma grows abundantly; the hard white bead-like seeds are occasionally threaded by 
the Dusun women and worn instead of beads. Near the foot of Kiau hill we were hailed 
by a big, dirty, ugly, chawated Dusun, who was sitting in his small field watch-house: this 
is a well-known character to those who have read ‘The Gardens of the Sun’-—Mr. Kuro, of 
Kiau. We sat down to rest at the foot of the hill, tired and hungry ; it was nearly mid-day, 
and our light breakfast, a cup of chocolate and some biscuits, was not sufficiently sustaining. 
While waiting here, Kuro was joined by another Dusun, whom he introduced to us as his 
friend Kabong, also of Kiau. Kabong carried a large bamboo of “ tuak,” and his flushed face 
showed that he carried other bamboos full of this intoxicant. Gamboie and the two chiefs 
of Kiau retired to the paddi-house, and finished the “ tuak ” with a breakfast of cucumbers. 
After breakfast these gentlemen were much intoxicated, and Gamboie, who had been 
carrying my gun, had to be relieved of it. As all the porters had not arrived we started up 
the long steep Kiau hill and arrived at Kabong’s village quite exhausted, the sun being 
very hot and we very hungry : Kiau hill under such conditions is most trying. 
After reaching Kabong’s house I had to w x ait until 4 o’clock for the Dusun porters 
who carried my provisions. It was as much as some of the Melangkaps could do to reach 
the village; when they came in thoroughly done up they were received with jeers and 
laughter by those who had arrived some hours before. However, after a meal of rice, these 
men, relieved of their burdens, started on their return journey at once, excepting some w'ho 
wished to trade for tobacco, and who stayed until the following day. 
Kabong invited us to stay in his house, which was a brancl-new r one and the finest I 
have ever seen in Borneo. Kabong and Kuro are the headmen of Middle Kiau (I say 
Middle Kiau, because there are two other villages, one above, and the other below the Kiau 
we stopped in). The upper village is called Kiau Nuloh, and its inhabitants are on 
decidedly unfriendly terms with those of Middle Kiau. Kabong always told us these 
people were a bad lot and not to be trusted ; they showed signs of hostility to us by yelling 
out threats at the Kadyans, and occasionally small parties of youths threw stones in our 
direction ; but as these demonstrations were quite harmless, being generally carried on at a 
distance of several hundreds of yards, we did not take any notice of them. This feeling of 
hostility towards ourselves was probably brought about by jealousy, these people knowing 
that Kabong’s village would gain all our trade-goods. 
23rd.—My aneroid gives the altitude of Kiau as nearly 2800 feet. Kiau is built near 
the top of a spur which runs round in a curve from the S.E. extremity of Kina Balu; this 
spur is actually part of Kina Balu, and runs up to the base of the granite precipices seen 
