BY J. C. MOULTON. 
173 
long by one mile in width; it is surrounded by mountains 
which drain into this plain, flooding it at certain times of 
the year, so that this might well account for the mysterious 
lake which some knew of for certain, while others had looked 
for it all over the country in vain. Witti’s long journeys 
in this district took place in 1881 and 1882. Between these 
two journeys W. B. Fryer took a long journey up the Kina- 
batangan, and Mrs. Pryer * relates how her husband 
“ travelled within the limits of the lake, as marked on the 
map, for many miles. Inquiries from natives failed to 
elicit any information as to the existence of any large sheet 
of water anywhere in these parts, and W. therefore duly 
reported home the non-existence of the supposed Kina 
Balu lake.” From Mrs. Pryer’s book it would appear that 
her husband found this out in 1878, so that Treacher would 
then be wrong in crediting Witti as the first European to 
prove definitely the non-existence of the lake. 
Personally I feel by no means convinced that the lake of 
Kinabalu is to be disposed of so easily. From my own 
inquiries among the natives of Kiau, I think that beyond 
doubt they have a legend to the effect that a lake did exist 
at one time on the mountain itself. It stands to reason 
that the passing traveller, usually with an imperfect know¬ 
ledge of Malay, and almost always in entire ignorance of 
the Dusun language, cannot get such information out of a 
native at a moment’s notice. To begin with, the younger 
generation of Dusuns on Kiau seemed to be remarkably 
ignorant or reticent about any local traditions or tribal 
legends; the older and more important men, on the other 
hand, were inclined to be more communicative, but un¬ 
fortunately they knew very little Malay in comparison with 
the younger Dusuns, many of whom spoke this lingua franca 
of the country quite fluently. Although I lived with these 
people for six weeks, it was only towards the end of my 
stay on the mountain that I could get beneath the surface 
in my talks with some of them. From the moment of my 
arrival, however, they were always pleasant and easy to get 
on with, but questions about themselves, their customs, 
legends, &c., were nearly always received with suspicion, 
however delicately or circuitously I might lead up to them. 
Unlike up-river natives in Sarawak, these Dusuns seemed 
to be in deadly fear that what they said would one day be 
brought up in evidence against them. We must therefore 
look for trustworthy information from someone who will 
* A Decade in Borneo. 1894, pp. 26, 27. 
