KINA BALU: SECOND EXPEDITION. 
I5T 
in illustration facing page 166, where it attains a height of nearly 9000 feet. The ground in 
the vicinity of the village is covered with turf and planted with a few coconut-palms, but 
these palms do not look healthy, the continued tapping of the “ tuak ’’-loving Dusuns being 
the chief cause of their deterioration. A wild raspberry (Bubus roscefolius) which was in 
fruit at this season was for some reason not eaten by the Dusuns ; these people, I often 
noticed, have no taste for sweets—a child would rather receive a piece of salt fish than the 
best sweets made. Kabong and his household seem very well-to-do for Dusuns. The 
Kiaus are generally taller, broader, and healthier-looking than the Melangkaps : the reason 
of this physical change in the condition of these people is not far to seek. The Kiaus are 
great tobacco-cultivators, and they exchange this product freely amongst the other villages; 
they are thus able to keep themselves more abundantly supplied with the necessaries of 
life than their neighbours. The land in this district suitable for rice-cultivation is also 
extensive. Being more robust, they are more industrious: this is evident at a glance to 
the traveller by the occupations of the men, who during their leisure make numbers of 
neat round sun-hats, baskets, rattan mats, bark ropes, and other articles, which they sell at 
the tamels. The bamboo sun-hats I never saw being made in Melangkap: Kiau is appa¬ 
rently the chief factory for these hats; as nearly every Ilanun and Bajow of the coast has 
one or two, the Kiaus must derive a good deal of wealth from this article of commerce. 
The Bajows, as I have before stated, do not trade direct with any Dusuns much above 
Gliinambur, as they have blood-feuds with the Koungs and campongs above that village. 
The Koungs and Kiaus have also a feud with the villages near Ghinambur, so do not meet 
at the “ tamels.” The middlemen for this river must be the Tambatuan and other villagers 
in that neighbourhood; a good deal of trade is also done with the Tawaran Dusuns, several - 
of whom I met at Koung. 
When watching a native of Borneo at work it is interesting to notice how much use » . 
he is able to make of his feet, the grasping-power of the big toe being considerably 
developed. A native generally holds his work between the two greater toes ; he is also 
able to pick up anything by this extra hand without stooping; on climbing a rope or 
creeper, the rope is always grasped between the two toes. He uses a knife differently to 
Europeans. The small-blacled long-handled knives are made in this somewhat peculiar form 
for a purpose : the long handle fits the arm, and rests on it as far as the elbow, the handle 
being grasped close up to the blade; then, instead of cutting as we do, these people pull the 
substance to be cut against the blade. 
Ivabong’s house is slightly different in its internal architecture to other Dusun houses, 
the private apartments being especially well arranged: they contain a large private room, 
and beyond this are the sleeping-apartments of the family. The plank sides of the house 
and the dividing partition are quite new, the panels being neatly let in between supports 
about three feet apart; some of these panels were even slightly carved and ornamented— 
this I have never before noticed in a Dusun house. Our host Kabong, his wife and two 
children, his sister, and another family complete the household. Kabong, though well-to- 
do, is one of the laziest of men; he nurses the baby while his wife, a frail little woman, is 
wearing herself out carrying heavy loads of fire-wood, water, and other household necessaries ; 
she also visits the tamels several times a month with heavy loads, over this most moun¬ 
tainous country. 
