KINA BALK: SECOND EXPEDITION. 
1G9 
or help himself, so, added to other miseries, I have now to do all my own cooking, of which 
I make a sorry job. 
9th.—The Dusuns arrived with the rest of our things from the lower camp. The 
want of water is a great nuisance, as I cannot now get enough to wash with, so am obliged 
to remain well smoked ; our clothes of course cannot be washed, and Tungal’s stream looks 
like drying up. Last night Avas the coldest we experienced at this camp, the mercury 
falling to 42° Fahr. Nyhan shot a peculiar small Scops Owl, which was a new genus 
having no ear-tufts, and has been called Heteroscops lucice. Yesterday I saw a hawk fly 
over our camp, which I believe was a Peregrine. These Dusuns are easier to deal with 
than the Melangkaps; having no more cloth they agree to wait for their wages until I go 
back to Melangkap, showing that they trust us. To-day I obtained a curious insectivore— 
a species of Shrew—in the bamboo traps. I have several times seen this little animal 
running about in the daytime, but up till now have failed to secure it. Its scientific name 
is Hylomys suillus. This animal looks more like a tiny pig than anything; its caudal 
appendage is the merest apology for a tail. It searches for its food amongst the roots and 
rocks. The Dusuns, besides eating this animal, are very amused at its want of tail, always 
laughing at the “ Nampungher ” and making the same remark, “ Esok tikiu! ” i. e. without 
a tail. The commonest mammal on this mountain is undoubtedly the rat, which Mr. Old¬ 
field Thomas, of the Natural History Museum, says is nothing more than a variety of our 
common Brown Rat [Mus rattus), the skull of the two species being identical, though the 
fur of the Kina-Balu rat is softer and longer. This rat was quite tame, running about our 
shelter and over the men’s bodies at night; we caught numbers in the Dusun traps round 
about the camp. In the forest amongst the larger trees we trapped two specimens of a new 
rat, Mus alticolci (Thos.), the fur of which was slightly spinous. Besides the rats 
there are two species of Squirrels, the new ones collected by me last year, and a Shrew, sp.l 
Tungal came back to the camp in a great fright one day—he had seen a devil looking at 
him out of a thick tree in the forest; for some time he sat quiet, but at last began to tell 
us about this “ hantu” (this “ hantu” was doubtless a large Orang-Utan or Mias). He had 
met with it close to the camp, but when I went in pursuit the devil had disappeared. 
Another large long-tailed red monkey comes up occasionally to the forest near the camp ; 
this animal is called by the Dusuns “ Kurra,” their name for the Mias being £- Kageau.” 
I saw traces of a stag near the camp, which might turn out a new species : but large 
animals are a great trouble to preserve in such a damp atmosphere, our principal enemy 
being a large blowfly ( l)ipteris , 1 sp.); this insect generally succeeded in laying its beastly 
maggots in the animals trapped before we found them ; if left a day an animal would be 
unfit for preservation, but not for Dusun dinners. Kuro, Kabong, and two other Dusuns 
are stopping here to take me up to the summit to-morrow ; the rest of the porters returned 
to Kiau. On the way up with my baggage, Kuro and his bisr-mouthed son opened their 
packages and carefully hid some of the tinned meats under the rocks; but, unfortunately 
for them, one of the Kadyans, following at a distance, on passing the spot noticed some of 
the tow in which I roll up the tins (making them better to carry), and afterwards use for 
bird-stuffing, sticking on the bushes at the side of the path. So, with the natural acuteness 
of a native, he tracked the bits of tow till he found the stolen tins. Of course I could do 
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