[1] “Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.” John Murray. 1857. [↑]
CHAPTER XIV.
Plant collecting—Large nepenthes—Sociable birds—Mountain climbing—Cold nights—Descent—Safe return to Kiau—Old skulls—Tree ferns—Fine climate—Land culture—Crossing rivers—“Lapayang’s” welcome—Tarippe fruit—“Benhau”—Pleasant evening at Kambatuan village—Graceful young girls—Bundoo—Little gardens en route—Ghinambaur village—A hard day’s walking—Return to the Tampassuk—Short-tailed buffaloes—Two-horned rhinoceros—Return to Labuan—Smith’s illness—Success of the expedition.
August 16th.—We were up by daybreak; and while “Jeludin” was preparing breakfast, I went out with the men collecting such plants as I wanted, and packing them in the native sago-sheath baskets (granjombs) with which we had provided ourselves. I was anxious to begin thus early, as I wanted to start most of the men back to Kiau to-day. After three or four hours’ hard work, we loaded twelve men and started them off on the downward journey; and as we intended staying two days longer up the mountain, they had orders to collect other plants which I had pointed out to them near Kiau. After starting them off, I was glad to take breakfast before exploring further for other things which I much wished to procure. After our repast I started off over the ridge of the spur, progress, however, being very slow, as nearly all the way one had to climb through branches, roots, or low shrubs. A glossy-leaved begonia, with large white flowers, was common beside the streams, and three species of cœlogyne were met with growing among the rocks and bushes. A great many small-flowered orchids of various genera were seen, but few were in bloom. Dacrydium, phyllocladus, and a peculiar casuarina of drooping habit were seen, and several herbaceous plants, among which I noted a drosera and a species of dianella, much resembling those of Australia. Among ferns were at least two species of trichomanes, two or three gleichenias, a peculiar form of dipteris resembling D. Horsfieldii, but dwarfer and quite glaucous, nearly white indeed below, and a strong-growing blechnum. Several mosses in fruit were gathered, and most of them were either absolutely new, or had not been discovered in Borneo before. Here and there I came across patches of an acre or two in extent of rocky mountain side without any tree-growth. These rocky patches were carpeted with coarse sedges, among which the great Nepenthes Rajah grew luxuriantly, an enormous crimson-tinted pitcher depending from each of its large lower leaves. These gigantic urns were for the most part filled with rain-water, among which were the remains of ants, beetles, and other insect-life. Nearly all the pitchers were found resting on the surface of the earth, and in most cases they were hidden by the overhanging leaves, sedges, and débris among which the plants grow. It was, in the case of the younger specimens—plants a foot high or so—that the pitchers were most evident and luxuriant. Seedlings of this size were even more ornamental than their big jug-bearing brethren. Here and there were specimens of N. Rajah, great clumps having stems five or six feet in height, with very broad massive leaves, and pitchers capable of holding two or three pints of water. It is these large plants which flower most freely, some of the stems bearing three or four spikes of their rich maroon-tinted blossoms, around which two or three kinds of flies or gnats were playing in the sunshine. The female plants were not nearly so plentiful as were the males, and I am inclined to think that these tiny flies aid fertilisation, for some of the female plants were a long way distant from any males, and yet they appeared to have been fertilised. N. villosa is often found in these open patches with the larger kind just alluded to, but more frequently it affects the margins of the open patches, and luxuriates among the low bushes, by which its weaker and more elongated stems are supported. N. Lowii and the beautiful N. Edwardsiana appear never to reach so high an altitude as those just named. I cannot describe the elated emotions I felt in traversing this mountain side, and gazing on forms of vegetable life the most remarkable of any to be found in the whole world! Hunger, bruises, and the repeated drenchings we had received during our journey hither, these and all other of our troubles seemed to vanish as I gazed around me on the wonders of creation and inhaled the cool invigorating mountain air. We returned to our cave-dwelling about four o’clock. As I write up my diary, a tiny bird is flitting about quite close to me, and does not appear in the least afraid. It is but little larger than a wren, its body being of a dark brown colour; the head and shoulders are mottled with yellowish brown. From its lively and erratic flight, I suspect it is of the flycatcher group. It flits backwards and forwards from bough to bough, and frequently leaves a branch as though flying right off, and quite surprises you by suddenly and adroitly twisting itself round and dropping back into the place from which it started. Another occasional visitor is a blackbird, having a golden bill and a reddish-brown breast. It strongly resembles our own blackbird indeed, but is perhaps a trifle fuller in the body. Again, we heard the little songster alluded to in the account of my first visit here. I know of no bird whose melody possesses the ravishing sweetness and variety of melody of this one, its song in the early morning being especially delightful. Were it possible to introduce it, this little stranger would be a most welcome addition to our domesticated song-birds here at home. Space is limited here in this cave, and one has to sit pretty close to the fire. Just after dinner to-night, as I sat making notes in my pocket-book, Smith, in lifting our extemporised kettle off the fire, let it fall, and the boiling water fell over my feet. My boots were off, and the pain was rather hard to bear. “Suong,” who is equal to all emergencies, recommends me to put some wet salt on the scalded portions of my feet, which, to please him, I did, and the pain soon after abated. I was very sorry for this accident, being afraid it would prevent my extending my excursions up the mountain side to-morrow, as I had arranged to do. It is raining very heavily, and Smith reminds me that we have only had two wholly fine days since leaving Labuan.
August 17th.—Our cave had become drier, owing to the fire we had constantly kept burning, and we slept well last night. One of our men, on going to his basket this morning, found a rat in it, which he at once secured and killed. It had doubtless been tempted by the warmth and his little store of food. It resembled very nearly the long-tailed grey Norway species, now so common in England, and was quite distinct from the short-tailed, long-snouted kind, of which “Kurow” had trapped two specimens during our first visit here. When our Dusun guides came in, one of them quickly appropriated it as a desirable addition to his edible stores. Our own breakfast this morning was of oatmeal porridge (a nice change from constantly eating rice) and tea and biscuit. I had some difficulty in putting my boots on, owing to the scalding my feet received last night. My feet were very painful at first, but getting warm with walking, they did not inconvenience me so much as I had expected. We had a long walk up the mountain side to-day searching for seeds and plants. The highest height we reached was 10,700 feet, but it must be pointed out that our object was to collect all the plants and seeds we could in the richest vegetable zone on the mountain, and not to reach the summit. Had our object been to ascend to the top nothing would have prevented our doing so; indeed, the real difficulties of climbing “Kina Balu” are very few, and not worth mentioning; indeed, we found our journey to its base from the coast far more exacting to our strength and temper. We were fortunate in our search to-day, having, after a long and disappointing search yesterday, failed to obtain the particular plants and seeds I was anxious to obtain. To-day, however, I was rewarded by finding a few in good condition. We returned to our cave at about four o’clock, and found our Dusun followers, who had been in another direction, had also brought me in a nice lot of seeds, plants, and flowers. They had complained of the cold nights on the mountain, and threatened to leave us this morning (as indeed they did last journey), but I promised them some rice for their evening meal, and eventually they had consented to stay another night. Before dinner we packed up our plants and seeds carefully, and arranged everything ready for our descent in the morning. I wished to start early, so as to have plenty of time for collecting on our way, as at one spot I much wished to make a détour to collect seeds. Our bird visitors came around us to-day again, and fearlessly came quite close to pick up the crumbs of rice we threw towards them. We have had rain more or less for two whole days, and it was bitterly cold towards eight o’clock, when we wrapped our rugs around us to retire for the night. My thermometer stood at 45° just outside the cave, and during the night it had descended to 38°. I awoke during the night quite stiff with cold, although I lay close to a good fire. My rugs had slipped from my shoulders, and I was glad to fold them tightly around me, and to put more fuel on the fire. It was a lovely moonlight night, the light being so strong on the branches opposite our cave as to make them look as if covered with snow. Mr. St. John mentions having seen a sort of hoar-frost here during one of his journeys. The great fall looked like a silver streak down the rocky mountain side opposite, and the rush of its waters into the chasm below comes quite clearly through the night air.
August 18th.—While Jeludin boiled the water for our coffee this morning, I carved my initials on the soft red sandstone wall of our cave, and then clambered up a tree just opposite to try and get a better view. All is mist and cloud below us except seaward, where a strip of the coast line and the rivers towards Menkabong and Gaya are visible. I can see the great fall very plainly coming down the face of the rock opposite, just where it disappears into the wooded gully, below there is a magnificent grove of tree ferns, and as I am fully a thousand feet above them, I can look down on their expanded clusters of fresh green fronds, and the effect in the morning sunlight is past all description. About 7.30 a.m. we started on our downward journey, at first climbing the ridge through roots and branches which were notched here and there for foothold. On reaching the path above, a few minutes’ walk brings us to a series of great steps and an open space or two covered with jutting rocks and boulders, sedges, low bushes, and the great pitcher-plants. Here we made a short stay collecting, much to the disgust of our Dusun guides, who pointed to the dark clouds and told us we should have rain, and much wished us to push onwards. Lower down still we came across plants of the beautiful Nepenthes Edwardsiana, scrambling up bushes and casuarina trees to a height of twenty or thirty feet. Both this species, and also the curious N. Lowii, are frequently perfectly epiphytal, all the old stems and roots originally in the ground being dead, but the top growth has rooted into the wet moss and débris which rests on the trees and bushes everywhere around. Of the first-named there are two distinct varieties, differing in the length and form of their pitchers. N. Lowii is first seen at about 5,000 feet, and is one of the most singular of the whole group, its urns being flagon-shaped, and of a hard leather-like consistence. Growing quite plentifully beside the path were tiny plants bearing tripetalous flowers of a white or pink tint, and very pretty. In some places it was quite bushy in habit and a foot in height, being literally covered with blossoms. Some large mosses, one of them having stems a foot in height, were also gathered, and a few inconspicuous orchids, epiphytal and otherwise, were observed in bloom. A plumose filmy fern (Trichomanes, sp.?) depended here and there from the half rotten casuarina branches overhead.
Owing to the rain yesterday our descent was far from pleasant, and falls were not infrequent, in fact on both occasions I have found descending this mountain very troublesome and dangerous owing to the wretched paths one has to follow. I carried a sago sheath basket behind me, fitted with bark straps for the shoulders, and it was lucky I did so, for I had one or two nasty falls backwards, and it saved my head more than once from contact with the slippery stones. Our guides have at last gone on a-head quite disgusted at my stopping here and there to take up a plant or gather seeds, which I can never resist doing. My boots had given way like brown paper owing to their being constantly wet, and I had to tie them on my feet with strips of bark. My feet had chafed where scalded, and were now very painful, while the constant strain on the legs during the slippery descent was very exhausting. However after many falls backwards and forwards we reached Kiau about four o’clock p.m. thoroughly tired and hungry. I felt thankful when I regained the hill above the village where all the hard work is over. I had tired out the patience first of our guides, then of my Labuan men, and even Smith had at last left me lingering collecting roots and specimens, and so I was the last man of our party to reach the village. As I descended the hill three of my men met me and took my load of plants, for I had both arms full besides the basket at my back. Tired and wet as I was I could not resist the impulse to look at the plants my men had brought down two days before, and I was glad to find that they were fresh and healthy. A mist swept around us soon after I got inside the house, and the steady rain we had experienced all the afternoon changed to a regular downpour. I was glad to put on my dry clothes after a thorough good wash and rub down with a towel warmed at the fire. I found that the skin was off my feet in great patches, and they swelled very much after removing my boots. Smith had a large sore on his heel, and he agreed with me that our ascent was child’s play compared with the descent.
My “boy” had cooked us some rice and had bought us some fine ripe tarippe fruit to eat with it. We afterwards had a cup of nice warm chocolate each, and lighting our cigarettes, our fatigue and bruised shins were soon forgotten, as we nestled cosily in our warm rugs in the glow of a sweet wood fire. After our return crowds of people flocked in to see us, and the house resembled a market-place, fowls, rice, sweet potatoes, maize cobs, rattan hats, tobacco, wax, caoutchouc, and Dusun gourd-organs of bamboo being among the produce and manufactures offered. The men squat down in groups, and there is a great deal of talking about the mountain and “Tuan Hillow” (Mr. Low), and “Tuan Bunga,” the name by which I am known to these people as well as to the Malays of the coast. It is quite a gala night, and the young girls are full of questions about the mountain. My men “Suong” and “Jeludin” told me that the cave on the mountain was a good place to sleep in, as there were no spirits there, adding that on the island at Gaya, and also at Pulo-Tiga they had been afraid to sleep, as the spirits were so many there! By the first stream we crossed to-day in descending the mountain, a pretty pink-flowered impatiens was flowering freely, and on the wet rocks we noticed a tuft of red-berried nertera. On a dripping wet rock here also a very fine trichomanes luxuriates, forming large mat-like masses of black roots, and long finely-cut filmy fronds. Two boys brought in a quantity of anæctochili to-night soon after our arrival, and asked for needles in exchange, which we gladly gave them. The talking and laughter of the natives, who seemed quite pleased at our safe return, lasted until I fell asleep about eight o’clock, how much later I do not know. Previous to this I called “Suong,” and bade him tell all the villagers assembled that I intended leaving in the morning, so as to give time for my men to prepare their things, and that the natives, knowing our intentions, might bring in any fowls or rice they wished to sell early ere our departure.
August 19th.—First thing this morning I heard that our buffalo, which had been turned loose to graze on the green here, is missing. All the men went to seek it while we ate our breakfast. “Kurow” had so often tried to induce me to exchange this animal—a female—for a male of his own that I was for a time suspicious of his having stolen it during the night. We had intended to start for Koung to-day, but the loss of our buffalo will detain us, as we cannot well leave without it, partly on account of its use to me now that my feet are raw and tender, and partly because it will not do to allow a theft to pass unpunished. A Dusun woman brought in a basket of fresh ginger roots this morning, which I find is cultivated by these people. Several fowls and some rice were also brought in, and these my “boy” bought in exchange for our old biscuit tins and glass bottles. During our forced delay I walked out to take a last look at the village, and to make a few sketches and notes. In the little flat-topped hut, which served as a head-house, I found a pile of about fifty skulls in one corner, some being in a basket suspended on the wall. These, the villagers tell me, are the skulls of their old enemies, and their individuality seemed well known to one old man, who pointed out several to me as having once rested on the shoulders of some of the Chinese settlers, who, some few years ago, disappeared from this Dusun country altogether, although their peculiar physiognomy still lingers among the Dusun tribes into which they married, so that it is just possible that they became absorbed into the native tribes. Others were pointed out as the heads of their old foes the Lanun, whom the Dusun people detest, say that they formerly came up to the hills with the ostensible purpose of trading, but adding, that they really wanted to steal their children as slaves. I offered “Boloung” a good Tower musket for a couple of these heads, but so highly are they still valued by these people that he refused to part with them, even for so high a price. This custom of head-hunting may be said to have died out amongst the Dusun, since they failed to subsist by hunting, and have taken to the less exciting employment of land culture. One place was pointed out to me where thirty men and their chief had been slaughtered together and their heads taken, only a few years ago. This was at a ford near Sineroup, and a rude circle of stones still marks the spot where the bodies were interred; all the stones are single except that which represents the chief, which has a smaller stone on its apex. I find the custom of marking burial places with erect stones very common among these people. On returning to the house I find that “Kurus,” one of my men, a shock-haired Bruneian, has brought in my buffalo, having tracked it through the soft mud to a bit of jungle at some distance from the village, and there he found him tied to a tree!