BY J. C. MOULTON. 
14B 
Gantisan and Mengkabong, where they attended a fair 
( tamu ), they reached the Tuaran and spent the night in the 
chief’s house at Tamparuli. Mention of the fair at which 
both Badjaus and Dusuns met to trade is of interest, as 
the much talked-of hostility between these two tribes could 
not have been very remarkable even in those days before 
the arrival of British influence. St. John frequently com¬ 
ments on the “ state of war ” then existing between Kiau 
and the neighbouring villages—a condition of things which 
allowed small parties of women and children to wander far 
out to their farms unprotected and apparently unmolested. 
The chief of Tamparuli is worth a passing note as the 
possessor of a daughter, “the loveliest girl in Borneo,” of 
whom St. John further writes: “ I have never seen a 
native surpass her in figure or equal her gentle, expressive 
countenance.” From here they made six stages of it to 
Koung, sleeping at Bawang, Sinilu, Kalawat, Bungol, 
below Koung on the Tampassuk, and reaching Koung on 
the sixth day. At Sinilu (— Si Nilau) he notes the women 
wearing a black cloth over their breasts—a custom which 
still prevails among the Dusun women at Kiau and neigh¬ 
bouring villages. I can find no mention of the same 
custom among other Bornean tribes. The cloth is kept in 
place by rotan rings—red as used by the ladies of Kiau, 
white by those of Tuaran. The cloth is worn until the 
wearer becomes a mother. 
The village of Kalawat (or Klowat) is noted as “ a cluster 
of about ten long houses, containing upwards of eighty 
families.” At Bungol there appeared to be above one 
hundred and sixty families. 
On arriving at Kiau they made an excursion to the 
Marei Parei spur, and there discovered giant pitcher-plants 
even finer than those found by Low on his first ascent in 
1851. They returned to Kiau, fetched their belongings, and 
spent another day or two at Marei Parei collecting plants. 
St. John remarks on the possibilities of the place thus: 
“ . . .we were convinced that if ever the north of Borneo 
fall into the hands of a European Power, no spot could be 
better suited for barracks than Marei Parei. The climate 
is delightful; at sunrise the average was fifty-six degrees, 
mid-day seventy-five degrees, sunset sixty-three degrees, 
and this temperature would keep European soldiers in good 
health. There is water at hand, and up the western spur 
a road could be easily made suited to cattle and horses.” 
On their return to Kiau they set out for the summit, 
