I first saw the natives ploughing in the Tampasuk; their plough is very simple, and is constructed entirely of wood; it serves rather to scratch the land than really to turn it over. The plough was drawn by a buffalo, and its action was the same as if a pointed stick had been dragged through the land to the depth of about four inches. After ploughing, they use a rough harrow. In the Tawaran they ploughed better, the earth being partially turned over to the depth of about six inches. The Ida’an have divided the land into square fields with narrow banks between them, and each division being as much private property as English land, is considered very valuable, and the banks are made to keep in the water. Their crops are said to be very plentiful. Simple as this agriculture is, it is superior to anything that exists south of Brunei, and it would be curious if we could investigate the causes that have rendered this small portion of Borneo, between the capital and Maludu Bay, so superior in agriculture to the rest. I think it is obviously a remnant of Chinese civilization. Pepper is not grown north of Gaya Bay, and is confined to the districts between it and the capital.
The Ida’an use a species of sledge made of bamboos, and drawn by buffaloes to take their heavy goods to market. The gardens on the Tawaran are well kept and very neatly fenced in. On the hills the plough is not used, the land being too steep; and there the agriculture presents nothing remarkable, beyond the great care displayed in keeping the crops free from weeds. The tobacco is well attended to, and these districts supply the whole coast, none being imported from abroad. When carefully cured, the flavour is considered as good, and the cultivation might be easily extended. Of the cotton I can say little, as I did not find that any of the tribes through whose country we passed cultivated it, though they assured me they purchased their supplies from the villages near the lake. The Tuhan and Inserban districts produce it, they said, in considerable quantities; and I observed the women, in several places, spinning yarn from the cotton. The Bajus obtain their supplies from a tribe near Maludu Bay. Among the hills the implements of agriculture consist of simply a parang chopper and a biliong, or native axe, and the ground is, therefore, no more turned up than what can be effected by a pointed stick; in fact, the steepness of the valley sides is against a very improved rice cultivation; it is better adapted for coffee. Mr. Low, who has much experience, pronounces the soil, a rich orange-coloured loam, to be superior to that of Ceylon, and, Kina Balu being but twenty-five miles from the sea-coast, there are great advantages there. The plains are alluvial and very fertile.
With regard to the amount of population, all estimates would be mere guess work; but it must be considerable, as little old forest remains, except at the summits of lofty hills; the rest being either under cultivation or lying fallow with brushwood upon it. The tribes on the Tampasuk estimated their own numbers at five thousand fighting-men; the Tawaran tribes were equally numerous; but reducing that estimate, and putting together the various information received, I should be disposed to place the entire population of these districts at above forty thousand people. This is under rather than over the amount.
The five thousand fighting men who are stated by the Ida’an to live in the Tampasuk are, they say, thus divided:—
| The Piasau Ida’an | 500 |
| Ginambur | 1,000 |
| Bungol | 1,000 |
| Koung | 500 |
| Kiau | 2,000 |
| Total | 5,000 |
It is impossible to verify this statement, but we may test it slightly by the observations made. The Piasau Ida’an, so named from the extensive groves of cocoa-nuts that surround their villages (piasau, a cocoa-nut), are spread over the Tampasuk plain, and I think I am understating, when I say we noticed above fifteen villages, and I should have myself placed their numbers much higher that five hundred. The Ginambur was a large village, and there was another of the same Ida’an about a mile off among the hills, which I passed through on our return. Buñgol is also stated at a thousand men. Our Malays, who visited it, said that it was very large; while the extensive village of Tambatuan, Peñgantaran, and Batong, with numerous others among the hills, have to be included in the Ginambur and Buñgol tribes. Koung is placed at five hundred, which is not a high estimate, there being about three hundred families in the village. Kiau is stated to contain two thousand fighting men; in this number are included the village of Pinokok (small), of Labang Labang (large), of Sayap, which we did not see. I should be inclined to reduce the Kiaus by five hundred men, though we understood them to say that their tribe was numerous beyond the north-western spur, in the neighbourhood of Sayap. I think we shall not be over-estimating the population by placing it at four thousand fighting Ida’an, or sixteen thousand inhabitants. Rejecting the women and children, both male and female, and the aged, one in four may be taken as the combatants. There were many villages on the eastern branch, some of Piasaus, others probably of Buñgol. The great extent of country cleared shows the population to be comparatively numerous. I may make this observation, the result of many years’ experience, that I have seldom found the statements of the natives with regard to population above the truth. In Sarawak and the neighbouring rivers, where we had better means of ascertaining the correctness of the accounts rendered, I have always found it necessary to add a third to the numbers stated.
The Tawaran, perhaps, contains a population nearly equal to that of the Tampasuk. The villages between the mouth and Bawang are numerous, but much concealed by groves of fruit-trees. Tamparuli was an extensive village, and Bawang of fair size. The Nilau tribe was scattered over the sides of the hills. Kalawat was a large village, with perhaps eighty families. Buñgol contains, perhaps, over one hundred and fifty families. The Tagoh, Bañgow, and other villages, were observed on sub-spurs; and beyond Buñgol the tribes must be numerous, if we may judge from the extensive fires made by them to clear their plantations. On the right-hand branch are also many villages, but we had no opportunity of examining them. By native accounts, the Tawaran district is more populous than the Tampasuk.
Of Anaman I know nothing; of Kabatuan I saw little beyond the Malay town; but I was informed that the Ida’an were numerous in the interior of this river, as well as on the hills that surround Mengkabong. I have placed them at two thousand, which is not a high estimate.
Mengkabong contains also an extensive Baju population, and in estimating them at six thousand, it is, I believe, much below the number. The villages are numerous, and the chief town large. It is possible that there are not more than a thousand fighting-men, but the Bajus are holders of slaves, and there are also many strangers settled among them.
Sulaman is placed at a thousand, which includes both Baju and Ida’an, and may be a little over the mark; for it I have nothing but vague native testimony.