PLAN OF A DUSUN COTTAGE, N.W. BORNEO.
We soon put the old boy at his ease, however; and then a fowl for our dinner was caught and killed. For this and the fruit we had stolen we paid him a fathom and a half of grey shirting, with which he was very pleased. His house was a very neat one, having a large public room in front, with a stove, hearth, or fire-place opposite the door, and two little sleeping rooms behind. Like all Dusun houses the floor was elevated four feet from the ground, level on piles, so that the pigs and fowls had shelter beneath. The side walls and floors were of bamboo, beaten or pressed out flat, like boards, and being of a clear, yellow colour, they had a warm and comfortable appearance as the fire glowed on the hearth, above which was a rack for the storage of fire-wood, or on which clothes could be dried.
After dinner we lit our lamp, and made ourselves as cosy as possible over our post-prandial cigar, after which we were not loath to turn in. Up by daybreak, and snatching our morning meal, we were soon en route for Kalawat Peak, and thence we descended to Kalawat village by a rocky mountain-path, fringed with bamboos, large ginger-worts, and ferns of various kinds.
A strong growing species of bauhinia was very showy here, overrunning the branches of bushes and low trees beside the path, and bearing its pale, yellow flowers in large clusters very profusely. As seen at a distance it has a pleasing effect in the landscape—a rare thing with Bornean flowers; and a nearer sight of it is suggestive of our native woodbine.
Selaginellas were plentiful near the streams, and near the crest of the Peak (alt. 2000 feet) we saw a dainty little bertolonia, rarely exceeding two inches in height, having pearly-spotted leaves, and terminal clusters of rosy-pink flowers. A stately habited nephrodium, with gracefully arching light-green fronds, nearly a yard long, a zingiberad, with richly barred foliage (Alpinia sp.), two or three species of gleichenia, and now and then an inconspicuous epiphyte, orchid, or fern occurred, to add variety to our route.
We were puzzled to-day by seeing horizontal bamboo-stems fixed in the trees over our path, but we eventually discovered that they were intended to serve as bridges or paths to rats or other animals, traps being set to catch those who were unwary enough to avail themselves of the convenient crossing.
BAMBOO RAT-TRAP, USED BY DUSUN, N.W. BORNEO.
a a, Pegs connected by rattan for setting the trap; b, catch, anything touching this liberates the pegs, and the bamboo forces c tightly down on d, thus securing any animal that has touched b.