I am not aware who inserted the names in the Admiralty charts, but they are often ill spelt, and incorrectly placed. Loney Island, south of Gaya, is generally called Sinitahan, “Hold here,” Island, from the great protection it affords to native prahus in both monsoons; and our informants insisted that the islands marked Bantok, Baral, and Risa, should be Memanukan, Sulug, and Memutik, and that the opposite point, called Lutut, or the Knee, should be Aru. I only mention this, as some of the officers in Labuan might be requested to furnish the correct names to the Admiralty, as it is exceedingly inconvenient to voyagers along the coast to ask for places by names which are not recognized by the inhabitants. While speaking of these otherwise admirably correct charts, I would draw attention to the fact, that the position of Tanjong Baram, or Baram Point, in the last published general chart of Borneo, differs about ten miles from that given in the charts recording the surveys of Sir Edward Belcher and Commander Gordon. This requires explanation.
Our boat having joined us, we got under way, and stood towards Pulo Tiga; the weather was squally and the night proved unpleasant, with strong gusts of wind and heavy rain, but in the morning we found ourselves opposite the island for which we were steering. A light land breeze now carried us past Nosong Point, with its curious detached rocks, but left us in a calm after we were a few miles from shore.
As usual, the sea breeze sprang up in the afternoon, but it came from the south-west. As we had been awake most of the previous night, we were dozing in the afternoon, when a bustle over our heads startled us, and we went on deck to see what was the matter. We found we were among the Pine-tree Shoals, with a large water-washed rock, not marked in the charts, within fifty yards of us. To let go the anchor and take in the sail, to meet a heavy squall from the westward, was the work of a moment. A heavy squall in a dangerous position is a thing to be remembered: you see advancing upon you an enormous arch of black cloud, with a slightly white misty sky beneath, called by the Malays the wind’s eye, and when it breaks upon you with a force almost sufficient to lift you from your legs and sweep you into the sea, you feel your own nothingness, and how impotent are most of our efforts to contend against the elements.
That day it blew heavily, and much depended whether it were good holding ground, but our principal fear was that another water-washed rock might be astern, on which if our vessel bumped she must go to pieces. The villagers from the neighbouring coast saw our danger and thronged to the beach: but we paid little attention to them, as we kept our eyes on two points to watch if the pinnace drifted. The sea as far as the eye could reach was one sheet of curling waves, crested with foam, which broke upon our bows and washed our decks; but as the wind became stronger, we veered out cable, though cautiously, as we were uncertain what hidden dangers there might be astern of us. It was an anxious time, as the squall lasted two hours without abatement; but even storms must have an end, and half an hour before sunset the wind lessened, as it often does about that time, and we sent out our boat to sound, and were soon able to have the pinnace towed clear of the water-washed rock, and setting sail we stood out to sea in a north-westerly direction to give us a good offing. We sat up by turns all that night, and amused ourselves by watching the hundreds of stars that fell or shot across the heavens, as is usual in the month of August; and I saw a brilliant meteor of a bluish colour, which appeared in the east, and flashed across the dark sky to disappear almost in a moment. We reached Labuan by daylight the following morning.
I am sorry to say that we did not fulfil our promise to the Kiaus, to go and explore the lake. I fully intended doing so during my last visit to Borneo, but was prevented by my return home. I had not forgotten their commissions, and had provided myself with a large store of needles and thread, which were, however, equally prized by the ladies of Brunei.
I must add a few remarks respecting the plates of the Nepenthes which appear in this volume; they are copied, as I have before observed, from the magnificent plates published in the fourth part of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. It is impossible to obtain a complete idea of these astonishing pitchers from the plates I have inserted, as I have been obliged to reduce them to the size of my work; but I the less regret this, as they have been drawn the size of life in the Transactions. With regard to the colouring, I obtained the assistance of Mr. Low, who first saw the plants, and has studied their appearance and growth; and many of the apparent contradictions in describing their appearance arise from the change which takes place in their tints at different ages.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE DISTRICTS LYING BETWEEN GAYA BAY AND THE TAMPASUK RIVER;[21] WITH A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MALUDU BAY AND THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF BORNEO.
The Coast Line—The Rivers—The Bays—Gaya Bay—Abai—Character of Interior Country—Plains—Hills—Kina Balu—First Ascent by Mr. Low—Description of Summit—The Peaks—The Northern Ranges—Steep Granite Slopes—The Spurs—The Main Spur—Interior Country—Distant Mountains—Plain—Villages—The Lake—Vegetation on Kina Balu—The Rivers—The Ananam—The Kabatuan—The Mengkabong—The Tawaran—The Abai—The Tampasuk—Its Interior—Political Geography—Inhabitants—The Lanuns—The Bajus—Mahomedans—Appearance—Their Women—Their Houses—Love of Cockfighting—Fine Breed of Fowls—Other Inhabitants—The Ida’an—Their Houses—Their Women—Tatooing—Comfortable House—Method of Government—No Wars—Aborigines Honest—Exceptions—Agriculture—Ploughing—Remnant of Chinese Civilization—Tobacco—Cotton—Good Soil—Amount of Population—Numerous and Extensive Villages—The Tampasuk—The Tawaran—Mengkabong—Other Districts—Enumeration—Manufactures—Lanun Cloths—Trade—Difficult Travelling—Languages—Geology—Sandstone—Greenstone—Climate of Kina Balu temperate—Map—Addition—Maludu Bay— Western Point—Western Shore—Mountains—Head of Bay—Population—Accounts compared—Bengkoka—Minerals—Eastern Point—Banguey—Difficult Navigation—Small Rivers and Bays—Paitan—Sugut—Low Coast—Labuk Bay—High Land—Benggaya—Labuk—Sandakan—Story of the Atas Man—Kina Batangan—Cape Unsang—Tungku—Population—The Ida’an—The Mahomedans.
The coast line, as viewed from the sea, presents the following appearance: Gaya Island, and the shores of Gaya, and Sapangar Bays are hilly, and this continues to within a mile of the mouth of the Mengkabong; the land then becomes flat, with the exception of the Tambalan hill, as far as the mouth of the Sulaman creek or river. High land then commences, which continues for a short distance beyond the Abai, when it again becomes low, and presents the same appearance for many miles beyond the Tampasuk river, the coast being fringed by Casuarinas.