From the opportunities I had of seeing the Sulu women generally, I should say that they are far superior to the men, and evidently have, as has been before noticed, great influence with their husbands. A present to the Sultana and one or two of the Datu’s wives, would be amply sufficient to ensure the safety and popularity of a traveller here, a secret well known to the rich Chinese traders, who make visits hither occasionally during the year. Wishing to pay our respects to the Sultan ere leaving for the night, we sought His Highness in vain for some time, but at last found him with one of our Chinese friends, smoking opium in a gloomy little compartment, from the close, penetrating odour of which we were glad to escape as quickly as possible. We went on board, but did not sleep much, owing to the talking and gong-beating, which continued almost all night. We awoke at sunrise to find nearly every one astir on the wharf, the Sultana and her suite having thus early seated themselves outside the houses to take the air.
Much amusement was caused by a large retriever dog, “Neptune,” which Mr. Cowie had on board, and which delighted to plunge after any trifle flung into the water. In about half-an-hour the boats were brought, and Her Highness and about fifty ladies went off to a sandy shoal in the bay to bathe. We could see them quite plainly from the ship flopping over the sides of the boats into the sea, and floundering about like fat seals. They evidently enjoyed themselves; and after a quarter-of-an-hour’s racing and splashing, they returned to the boats, and then proceeded about a mile out to sea, where some Badjows amused them by diving for pearl-shells and coral.
Returning to the wharf, the Sultan and Sultana came on board; and after Her Highness, who was only attended by two of her ladies, had looked over the ship, he bade us adieu. The boats were then brought alongside the wharf; the ladies embarked first, then the Sultan and his suite. Splash went the polished paddles; a wave of the hand from His Highness, a dip of the flag at the mast-head of the little steamer, and the first royal visit paid by a Sultan of Sulu on board a steam-ship was over. Both before and after this visit we saw a good deal of the Sulus; not only the traders, but the nobles and officers themselves often came on board on business, or to take a cup of tea and have a chat. One or two of them had a weakness for gin “cocktails,” but their general beverage was tea or lemonade. All were armed with straight knives; but most had the short heavy Sulu knife or sword stuck in a silk sash or waist-cloth. Much of the conversation was on the subject of market prices for pearl shell, trepang, and birds’ nests, varied by inquiries as to the object and operations of the new Borneo Company, to whom their Sultan had quite recently ceded Sandakan, and the east and north part of Borneo which belonged to him.
During all the time we had lain in harbour here, the weather had been dry, not a drop of rain having fallen for nearly four months. The plains were very dry and parched, and jungle fires were not unfrequent as the dry grass caught fire and sprang into a blaze very quickly. It is owing to these fires in jungle and forest that teak of large size is now so rare; since at one time the island must have been one immense forest of this valuable wood.
After the ascent of Bu’at Timantangis I had often longed to explore Bu’at Dahau, the next highest of the two peaks of Sulu, both of which are visible for a long way out at sea. We could see the mountain quite clearly at sunrise every morning, from our anchorage at Meimbong; and one fine morning I set off, accompanied by Mr. Anson Cowie, who proved himself to be a most intelligent and genial companion. As guide, I had been so fortunate as to obtain the services of one of the Sultan’s officers who lived at a village half way up the mountain side, and at whose house we were to leave our ponies and undertake the climbing on foot. We bore to the right on leaving Meimbong, and had a pleasant ride of seven or eight miles across the fragrant mint and grass-covered plains; but by reason of my dismounting here and there to gather a curious orchid or fern, or perchance to get a shot at a beautiful bird, it was nearly noon ere we drew rein at the door of our guide’s house. Our way at first had lain through the undulating plain; then the Meimbong river was crossed under some fine-spreading trees, on which white, blue, and green pigeons fluttered in plenty. Then we rode up a narrow path fringed with tall overhanging jungle on either side, leaving only bare space for our ponies to pass in Indian file. Then came a rounded hill-side, and numerous cultivated patches—little farms with palm-thatched houses sheltered in groves of durian, cocoa-nut, mango, and other fruit trees. Here coffee and cocoa-trees were noticed in vigorous health and fruitfulness; and along the edges of the arable patches a very pretty species of curcuma was blooming freely among the grass and verdure. The leaves had a purple stain along the mid-rib. The flowers were white, with a blotch of lemon-yellow on the lip, the inflorescence being white, suffused with bright amethyst, purple at its apex. We noticed tame paroquets hanging outside several of the dwellings we passed on our way.
At one point near the foot of the mountain, we came upon a party of thirty or forty men accompanied by dogs, and armed with long spears; they were going to hunt some wild pigs which had done damage to a plantation of sweet potatoes and yams the night previous. Our way now lay up the clearings on the mountain side. I dismounted and led my pony; and on my shooting at a pigeon, it became restive, and broke away. It was luckily met and caught by a Sulu man who had followed us, in the hope of earning a little tobacco. Arriving at last at the mountain village, we entered our guide’s house, after having tethered our horses and given them some cut grass on which to feed. The sun was now very hot, and we were glad to rest; we were hungry, too, and thoroughly enjoyed some fish and rice, which, together with some chocolate, was soon set before us by these hospitable people. Pigeons, paroquets, and large hornbills, were here plentiful, and came to feed on some large trees which were in fruit near the village.
After our luncheon I started with our guides to ascend the mountain, leaving Mr. Cowie, who had a lame foot, to shoot around the village until my return. We reached the summit in about an hour, but were much disappointed, as the vegetation was not nearly so luxuriant as that on Timantangis. Orchids were scarce, and ferns wanting in variety and beauty, although several were new to science. Near the summit I heard a little song-bird singing very sweetly; and although I did not see it, I am convinced it was the same species I had previously heard with so much pleasure on “Kina Balu,” at a much higher altitude. This mountain is well wooded at the top, but not so densely as is Timantangis; nor is the undergrowth so rich in variety. The views from the top are simply lovely—a panorama of fertile farm-dotted hills and golden plains, stretching away to the blue sea, where the main island is fringed by coral islets. A native pointed out the harbour to us, and the peak of Pulo Siassi was plainly visible. In the descent I made a detour from the little spring or watering-place near the village, and passing through clumps of coffee-bushes, with here and there ripe fruit in plenty, we came beneath a grove of large durian trees which were in bloom, the ground beneath being covered with their fallen blossoms. Here I shot several pigeons and paroquets; and in returning to the village we repeatedly saw a large amorphophallus bearing fœtid flowers as large as a sugar basin, and of a dark maroon colour. On cutting open a flower I found its basin half full of ants of two kinds and numerous small black coleoptera were running about in the spathe. I may say that I have rarely ever examined tubular flowers here in the tropics without finding insects of some kind engaged within, and in the case of aroids particularly, their spathes are generally full of such tiny guests, whether “unbidden” or not I cannot say, but it is probable certain kinds are attracted by fœtid odours as others are by sweet ones, while in many cases nectar or pollen supply the little visitors with food. The bright scarlet flowers of the erythrina trees in Labuan sheltered myriads of tiny flies and beetles which, in their turn, afforded food to large flocks of starlings and other birds which were always attracted to these trees when they were in bloom. Quite accidentally I came across the evidence of a celebrated traveller in South America, Waterton, who at p. 98 of his Wanderings, says “almost every flower of the tropical climates contains insects of one kind or other,” thus bearing out what I have observed to be universally the case in the eastern jungles and gardens.
On returning to the house I found Mr. Cowie had shot a beautiful paroquet and two pigeons I had never seen before, and he had directed his men to bring all the ferns and plants he had met with on his way around the jungle patches near the houses. Our birds and flowers securely packed, we walked around the village and paid a visit to a hospitable old hadji who lived here, apparently prosperous and happy. He told us that many of the women had been much frightened on hearing that a white man was coming to their village, adding that he had had great difficulty in assuring them that we were not Spaniards. He had erected a neat little musjid, and his son, a tall well-favoured youth, who had accompanied his sire to Mecca, had just been married to a very comely Sulu girl. This hadji had a tradition that the aboriginals of the island had been driven out by the Chinese emigrants many years ago, even before the Arab Sultans and Datus became the dominant party here. He may be right, since it is a well known fact that the Chinese had extensive settlements in the northern portion of Borneo, as in part attested by the native names of the places in which their settlements were made, as Kina Balu (Chinese widow mountain), Kina Batangan (Chinese river), Kina Tanah, Kina Taki, and others. There is one tribe of Dusun who wear pigtails, and although they use the Dusun vernacular, yet they converse in very fair Chinese after a little practice, having never quite lost the tongue of their Chinese ancestors, of whom these are the lineal descendants by Bornean women. This peculiar tribe inhabit the Bundu country, but St. John mentions Muruts from the Limbang, who spoke Hokien Chinese on their being confronted with Chinese in Brunei, the capital, although they failed to express themselves in the Malay language of the coast!
Just as the sun was sinking behind the trees we mounted our ponies and started for Meimbong. The air was now cool and fresh, and a pleasant ride of two hours brought us to Meimbong. This was my last ride in the island. All the cargo had been stowed below, the hatches closed, and early in the morning we were to leave. We were awoke at daybreak by the steam-whistle, and just as the sun tinted the peaks of Timantangis and Dahau we steamed slowly out of the harbour for the Island of Siassi, one of the Tapal group, where more cargo awaited us. We arrived at Siassi about noon, but the cargo could not be put on board until the next morning. We stayed at Siassi all the following day, and I took the opportunity of riding inland, and to the peak, which I found capped with old forest; but owing to the extreme drought, everything here was parched and dry, and but few plants of interest were seen. As most of this island is entirely denuded of old forest, of course birds are scarce; indeed, I saw enough of it to convince me that it was a bad collecting ground generally. The only steed I could obtain was a large black bull, which I hired for a bundle of tobacco. He was all right when I had fairly mounted, but whenever I got off to shoot at a bird, or gather plants, he became exceedingly restive, and the only way to mount him again was to put the rope (by which I steered him, and which was fastened to a twisted ring of rattan cane in his nose) round the trunk or branch of a tree, and then to pull his nose up to it by sheer force, holding it firmly with one hand while I sprang on his back. The few country people I met appeared rather surprised, but I expect the bull was well known, and so that served as a passport to me. Near the houses on the shore a bushy euphorbia, with candelabra-like branches, and a clump of yuccas were seen, both doubtless introductions. I returned about three o’clock. After dinner I and Captain Cowie visited one or two of the traders’ houses, which resemble those of Sulu in internal arrangement, large beds or platforms occupying the principal apartment, covered with fine mats and pillows, the valuables in boxes being piled up behind. In the morning we bore away for Sandakan, which we reached ere daybreak the next day. The steam-ship America was in the bay, having Baron de Overbeck on board. We stayed here one day for cargo of trepang, rattan, pearl-shell, and birds’-nests. These edible swallows’-nests are highly valued by the rich Chinese, and it is from a cave on the face of the sandstone rock on Pulo Bahalatolois, at the mouth of this bay, that the finest white nests are obtained. These rocks rise nearly perpendicularly from the sea, and to reach the entrance to the cave a man has to descend a distance of a hundred or more feet with the aid of a rattan rope tied to a tree on the slope above. It is dangerous work, as the least slip, and the man would be dashed to pieces on the rock-strewn shore below. The nests thus obtained fetch as much as eighteen dollars per catty, a weight equalling 1⅓ lb. English. The finest birds’-nests are clean and white, as if made of isinglass; the worst resemble dirty glue, to which feathers and other impurities are attached, and between these extremes there are all sorts of intermediate qualities. These nests are obtained in rocky caves throughout Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, but nowhere are they obtainable finer in quality than here, at Sandakan Head. Large quantities of small or seed pearls are obtained here, also Bornean camphor, the produce of Dryobalanops camphora, a large tree often one hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in height. As a product, it is quite distinct from the common camphor of commerce, which is obtained from Laurus camphora by the Chinese of Hong Kong, who send nearly all of it to our markets, while they, in their turn, highly esteem the Bornean produce, and pay high prices for it. It is obtained in the form of tears and crystallised lumps from the trunk of the tree, and in general appearance is so like the finer kinds of “dammar” gum, that this latter is often used by the collectors as an adulterant. The Chinese traders, however, are rarely imposed upon. The camphor, in its pure state, resembles solidified spirit, and being extremely volatile, it burns with a clear light flame. To detect adulteration, the Chinese are said to spread a little on a white cloth and set it on fire; the pure camphor burns cleanly, and does not soil the cloth, whereas the dammar, if such is mixed with it, melts and sets the cloth on fire. The people from the Teutong river, and the Kayans on the Baram, collect large quantities of camphor and caoutchouc, and prahus with a cargo of these products, worth from one to two thousand dollars, visit Labuan, Sarawak, and other ports during the season. On our leaving Sandakan, on our return voyage to Labuan, we obtained a capital view of Pulo Bahalatolois, and on our rounding the point, the rattan rope dangling down the rocks to the dark entrance to the swallows’ cave was plainly visible. This island has a very commanding position, and a battery here would sweep the entrance to this fine bay. We were four days in reaching Labuan, there being a thick fog along the north-west coast, and we were aground twice, although fortunately we got off again without injury.