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PEEPS AT
MANY LANDS
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
BAOJAUS. Page 14.
PEEPS AT MANY LANDS
BRITISH
NORTH BORNEO
L. W. W. GUDGEON
WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
ALLAN STEWART
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
TO
AGNES HERBERT
TO PLEASE WHOM I WROTE THIS BOOK
CONTENTS
CHAPTBR PAGE
I. HISTORY . I
II. RIVER PEOPLE, COAST PEOPLE, AND OTHER MALAY
TRIBES ........ 7
ill. COAST TRIBES continued . . . . .14
IV. HILL PEOPLE ........ 22
v. HILL PEOPLE continued . . . . . -3
VI. THE CHINESE IN BORNEO . . . . -39
VII. PLANTATIONS ....... 46
VIII. TOBACCO ESTATES . 54
IX. TOWNS. ... .... 59
x. THE "ORANG-OUTANG" . . . . .67
XI. TIMBADO AND DEER ...... 74
XII. BIRDS'-NESTS AND FLYING FOXES . . . 83
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BADJAUS Frontispiece
FACING PACK
A CROCODILE-HAUNTED SWAMP ... . . -9
NATIVES WITH THEIR BOATS 1 6
DUSUM HILLMEN COMING DOWN TO THE COAST TO TRADE 25
A NATIVE VILLAGE ....... 32
A CHINESE STORE . . 4!
DUSUNS BATHING WITH THEIR BUFFALOES . . .48
A TOBACCO PLANTATION 57
A RUBBER PIANTATION 64
A SULU HOUSE AND COCOANUT PLANTATION . . -73
A NATIVE HOUSE 80
A DUSUN AND HIS BUFFALO STEED . . . On the cover
Sketch- Map on page vili
VII
SKETCH-MAP OF BRITISH NORTH BORNEO.
vi'ri
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
CHAPTER I
HISTORY
IN the days before the Manchu Emperors ruled in
China, the beginning of each season of north-east
monsoons saw a fleet of trading junks leave the Si
Kiang, or West River, of China for the islands of the
Malay Archipelago.
The monsoon is a steady wind that blows in the
China Sea for some months regularly from the north-
east and then it veers round and blows for some months
regularly from the south-west. The early Chinese
skipper in his light but unwieldy-looking junk, found
that the only practical method of taking long sea-
voyages was to spread his huge mat sails in front of
the north-east monsoon and be driven south. Thus,
striking as near a point to the harbour he was bound
for as possible, he would find his way to that destina-
tion by following coast-lines, and enlisting the
services of strong fixed ocean-currents, such as
those produced by the discharge of large rivers.
B.N.B. I
British North Borneo
When the time for the change of the wind came, the
skipper, having done his trading and barter meanwhile,
again spread his sail in front of the monsoon, the
south-west one this time, and in due course, provided
that he escaped the fierce Ilanun and Sulu pirates that
cruised around his route, he struck the coast of China
again, and reached home. Thus half a year or more
was occupied in a voyage that now could be accom-
plished in a fortnight. But John Chinaman, provided
that he makes a large profit, is even more prepared to
undertake big risks than our American cousin, and the
spices, ores, birds'-nests, precious stones, pearls, and
other valuable things that formed the cargo of that
day were highly prized and eagerly sought by the
wealthy Chinese nation.
It can easily be understood, then, by anyone who
looks at a school-map of Asia that junks bound for
the bountiful island of Java would now and again
strike by accident the coast of the huge island-
continent of Borneo, which places its 290,000 square
miles of land right across the route of the China- Java
trader. Some of these Chinese junks captured by the
pirate craft of Brunei were towed into the mouth of
the Brunei River, and their crews were forced to work
as slaves to the Sultan of Brunei. They introduced
the art of working in bronze, for which the people of
Brunei are famous to the present day, and also they
2
History
instructed the wild, bloodthirsty Malay, to which race
the Brunei people belong, in the art of the silversmith
and the craft of the potter.
In the map of Borneo in this book, you will see
that the Sultanate of Brunei is at the head of a gulf,
called the Gulf of Brunei, just behind the island of
Labuan on the north coast. This, the most important
State in the island, gave its name to the whole island,
for Bohni-yo is supposed to be only a Chinaman's
attempt at pronouncing Brunei. This theory no doubt
is correct, for a Chinaman cannot pronounce an R,
whereas a Malay rolls his R. Thus the people of
the country would call it Ber-r-runei, and this the
tongue of a Chinaman would utterly fail to pro-
nounce.
North of Brunei stretches the peninsula of Sabah,
the west of which was of old nominally a possession
of the Sultan of Brunei, and the east of which was
nominally a possession of the Sultan of Sulu. The
latter lived at Jolo, an island situated between the
coast of Borneo and the Philippine Islands.
Sulu as a State has had a most turbulent history.
The Sultan of Sulu was constantly being worried for
three hundred years by the Spaniards, while he drew
all his revenue from the sacking of Spanish ships on
their way to and from Manila. In fact, at the same time
as our Devon and Cornwall mariners were annoying
3
British North Borneo
the west-bound galleons of Spain, the fierce crews of
Sulu warriors were attacking the east-bound.
The peninsular of Sabah is now called British North
Borneo, and is ruled over by an English Chartered
Company. South-west of Brunei is the State of
Sarawak. This, formerly a province of the Sultanate,
was destined to become the kingdom of an adventurous
Englishman. In the whole history of the British
Empire no more thrilling episode happened than the
founding of the royal house of Sarawak by James
Brooke.
A young man, who had served until disabled by a
wound in the India Company's forces, James Brooke,
living on his pension and small income, was at the
age of thirty a mere visionary. Then came the magic
touch of gold ; some fortune was bequeathed to
him. He bought a small yacht and sailed east. His
intention at first seems to have been to seize a portion
of the island of Celebes. Menado, the northernmost
of Celebes' many peninsulas, was a State with, at that
time, a great reputation among Chinese traders. It, in
fact, was spoken about as a " land flowing with milk
and honey," and the people bore then, as now, a reputa-
tion of being the quietest of all the tribes in the
Malay Archipelago.
But, arriving at Singapore, the plans of the future
Rajah were altered. He heard about the atrocities
4
History
committed on the high seas by Sulu, Ilanun, Brunei,
and Sea Dyak pirates, more especially by the fierce Sea
Dyaks of Sarawak, and he put down his helm, and on
the wings of the monsoon he sailed into Brunei estuary.
The town of Brunei was then, as now, built of palm-
poles and nipa thatch over the water. Itself, it was
a humble imitation of Venice ; its inhabitants were
fishermen by birth and pirates by choice, and its
monarch was a small brown savage, half-clothed in
silk, and splashed with gold and pearls. The Istana, or
palace, was one long thatched hut propped on lofty
poles above the muddy stream, with numerous smaller
huts attached to it by shaky gangways.
To this palace James Brooke was rowed in the
yacht's gig, and he pointed out to the young Sultan
that he, as an Emperor, was responsible for the conduct
of his rajahs, pangirans, panglimas, datus and other
subordinates. The word sultan is equivalent to the
English word emperor, and rajah to the English word
king. Further, James Brooke warned the Sultan that
the British in Singapore were tired of the annoyance to
trade caused by his subjects' acts of robbery on the sea,
and that sooner or later a British gunboat would burn
his town about his ears, and hang him and his cut-
throats on the mangrove.
The Sultan was greatly frightened, and besought
Brooke to assist him in subduing the turbulent Sea
5
British North Borneo
Dyaks of Sarawak. This question was discussed at
length, and finally Brooke agreed to accept the
appointment offered him by the Sultan to a tributary
realm in Sarawak, and he became Rajah Brooke of
Sarawak.
During the next decade Brooke destroyed the pirate
fleets, sinking one " prahu," as the native craft is
named, after another until the scourge of the Sea Dyak
had ceased. His midshipman-nephew George helped
him right through, and when Rajah Sir James Brooke
died, honoured by his own subjects and by the British
nation as well, he bequeathed his prosperous little king-
dom to this same gallant middy, who is the present
Rajah. Like his uncle he, too, has received a knighthood
from the English sovereign.
The peninsula of Sabah, the Sultanate of Brunei,
and the kingdom of Sarawak form only one-third of
the huge island of Borneo ; the other two-thirds are in
the possession of the Queen of HoJland. As a matter
of fact, the Dutch have only settled at points round the
coast, like the well-known port of Banjermassin, or
Pontianak, or the petroleum town of Balik Pappan.
The interior is a vast unknown land of gigantic moun-
tains, rushing rivers, gloomy forests and swamps. The
tribes that inhabit it are many, and every few square
miles has its own language. One general rule, how-
ever, applies to the whole of Borneo : the inhabitants
6
History
of the coasts, lowlands, and estuaries are Malay fisher-
men and Mohammedans ; the inhabitants of the hills
and mountain valleys are agriculturists and heathen.
A third race of naked aborigines exists. These wander
about in families, armed with a blow-pipe, from which
they puff a poisoned arrow. They are rarely heard of,
and are chiefly noted for the wonderful tattoo marks
with which they cover their bodies, and the superstitious
dread in which they are held by the other races.
The Sultanate of Brunei, in 1906, was declared a British
territory under the rule of the Governor of the Straits
Settlements, but by then a large portion of its area had
passed into the possession of the Brooke family, and a
smaller portion had been absorbed by the North Borneo
adminstration.
Sabah, or North Borneo, to give it the present official
name, was purchased by William Cowie, an adventurous
Scotch trader, from the Sultans of Sulu and Brunei,
and sold by him to a Chartered Company, which still
rules it.
CHAPTER II
RIVER PEOPLE, COAST PEOPLE, AND OTHER MALAY TRIBES
A LITTLE naked Malay boy, who tumbles down the
ladder of his father's hut into the river and learns to
swim before he can talk, is a grave little fellow in his
7
British North Borneo
way. He generally has large, handsome, fearless eyes,
and his little head is constantly shaved by his father,
not with a razor as you would think, but with the edge
of his kris or sword.
Alas ! how many of these brave little chaps come
to an untimely end through their rashness when bath-
ing. For all the rivers of Borneo abound with crocodiles,
and a small Malay boy is an attractive bait for a crocodile.
It seems odd that their father, whom they call
"bapa," and their mother, whom they call "mak,"
never try to persuade them to be careful. If a stranger
remonstrates with the parents, and tells them that the
children run undue risks, they shrug their shoulders
and say, " If it is the fate of the child to die, die he will ;
* sudah.' ' The word " sudah " means " finished,"
otherwise, " The argument is finished ; there is nothing
more to say."
A small boy. belonging to the Badjau tribe of Malays,
and rejoicing in the name of Mohammed Saleh
generally abbreviated to Djali was busy catching
prawns in a shallow creek, through which a European
wished to wade. "Are there any crocodiles there,
Djali ?" asked the European. " Yes, there is one
yonder," coolly replied Djali, pointing to a deep pool,
above the surface of which floated two lumps, one the
nose and the other the eye-sockets of a huge croco-
dile. When a crocodile is on the watch only the tip of
8
Malay Tribes
his nose, and what might be called part of his forehead,
appear above the surface. " Oh, that one is not ' jahat," 1
said Djali. Now, "jahat " means wicked, and the
Badjaus firmly believe that there are "jahat " crocodiles
that eat people, and others that do not. Further, these
natives greatly object to a VTuan," as they call a
European, firing at a harmless crocodile, as they say it
will make him turn "jahat."
The expression " Tuan " originally meant lord or
master, but now it is the exact equivalent of sir, or
gentleman. It is applied to every European without
exception, and to hardly anyone else, except a few of
the wealthy hadjis and some native chiefs, of whose
hereditary tide it forms a part.
A good-class Malay, to whatever tribe he may belong,
is scrupulously polite. His ideas as to politeness for-
bid him to use a personal pronoun when addressing a
superior. Consequently he addresses himself to his
visitor like this : " Will the Tuan sit down upon the
cushion of the Tuan's servant, for the Tuan's feet must
be tired, and the Tuan's servant will bring the Tuan
some water." Any difficulty about using the pronoun
" I " or " me " is obviated by the fact that no such
word exists in Malay. The words used in its place all
mean " servant " or " slave."
The Badjaus, the Sulus, and the Bruneis plant very
little else besides padi, or, to give it its Western name,
B.N.B. 9 2
British North Borneo
rice. Their system of planting this is to clear a hollow
place of timber and undergrowth in the dry weather,
burning everything that will burn, and when the wet
weather comes they drain the surrounding land into this
hollow and plant the rice upon the muddy surface thus
created. This form of padi-field is called a "sawah,"
and in one style or another is common throughout the
countries of the East. The women and the children do
most of this work ; the men live three-quarters of their
life in their boats, which are of many shapes, but mostly
built from a tree-trunk hollowed out by fire, with bent-
shaped branches nailed inside it for ribs. They have a
small awning of palm-leaves to keep off the sun and
rain, and a small hollowed-out piece of sandstone to hold
a charcoal fire. Some of these boats sail very fast, but
as they have round bottoms and no keel, and moreover,
as their owners use enormous sails, their liability to
capsize is considerable.
The first in importance ot their sea-going craft is the
trading " prahu," which in olden times kept up a con-
stant communication between Brunei, Labuan, Kuching,
and Singapore. In these days of steam navigation these
large craft are rarely met with in the North of Borneo.
They are strongly-built, broad-beamed boats, with
carved figure-heads and high sterns, carrying one or two
large lateen sails, and fitted also with long sweeps or
oars. Then comes the u pukatan," so-called because it
10
Malay Tribes
is used for drawing one end of the " pukat " or mile-
long sweep-net, the other end being fastened to a stake.
The next boat in point of size is the " lambau," which
is used with a trawl-net called a " salambau " for trawl-
ing in deep waters. A "sapit" is a boat after the
European style, fitted, unlike the rest, with a keel and
rudder, and shaped like those funny little Cromer crab-
boats that have added to the joy of many a schoolboy's
summer holiday. A "gobang" is just a small hollowed-
out log with a couple of bamboo- seats in it.
The fastest sailing boat on the Borneo coast is the
Sulu " dapan," or double catamaran. This is a long,
narrow boat, from each side of which stretch two long
arms carrying a bamboo at their extremities. Thus the
" dapan " has a bamboo on each side of her about four
feet away, and these balance one another and prevent
the excessive amount of sail that she carries from cap-
sizing her. In these boats, flimsy as they are, the Sulus
of the American island of Balabac are bold enough to
voyage to the mainland of Borneo over several hundred
miles of open sea.
It is great fun to go with a party of Brunei fisher-
men to spear the " pari," a big fish similar to our skate.
A party, consisting of twelve men in three small gobangs,
set out from the " kampong," or village, just before
dusk. In each boat is a three-pronged spear, the
prongs of which are often made from five-inch nails,
1 1
British North Borneo
not set in a row like a fork, but lashed to the shaft of
the spear, so that their points would form the angles of
a triangle. These prongs are also farther apart at their
points than at their heads, and, when driven into the
fish they splay out more, and, having small barbs cut in
them, they give the fisherman a tight hold on the fish.
All the men have prepared torches. They drift
down, with as little use of their paddles as possible,
towards the mouth of the river and the open bay. Here
they search for a shallow spot, one near the mangrove,
with a sandy bank, three feet or less beneath the sur-
face. Directly it is properly dark the fun commences,
and great sport it is too.
The torches are held down close to the surface of the
water and the big flat fishes, attracted by the light, rise
to investigate its cause. A strong, muscular brown arm
swings over the boat's side and " swish " goes the spear.
Then the fight starts. The small boat rocks until it
seems as though it must roll over altogether, in spite ot
the fact that two of the crew are throwing their weight
on the other side to balance it whenever their prey gives
one of his mighty tugs. The shaft of the spear is a
flexible rattan cane with the larger end attached to the
prongs, otherwise it would soon break under the strain.
When the pari is landed, or rather lifted into the boat,
then the time for the fishermen to be on their guard
has come, for the pari is an ugly customer to handle.
12
Malay Tribes
On the end of his nose he carries a long flexible spike,
sometimes, in the case of old matured fishes, as much as
four feet in length. To get the point of this run into
a man's arm or leg means not only a bad wound, but a
dangerous one, as some kind of poison seems to cling
to it and infect the wound.
The pari is a nasty brute to encounter when bathing
on the sandbanks or shallows of Borneo's many bays.
But a more dreaded danger is a collision with a giant
jelly-fish. The head of this curious creature is as large
round as the top of a small table, and streamers or arms
of three feet in length trail behind it. It is in these
streamers that the danger lies. Where they touch they
stick. To pull one off a man's arm means pulling off
the skin and the flesh underneath.
Altogether the seashore bather in Borneo does not
have a happy time. The golden sands of Margate or
the beach at Cromer may not be so romantic, but they
are safer. No need on an English beach to think of
the pari, or the jelly-fish, or to worry about hammer-
head sharks, sword-fish, or blood-sucking octopi. One
of the latter, even if only two pounds in weight, is quite
a sufficient encumbrance to drown a strong swimmer.
Its tentacles, armed with their many leechlike mouths,
hang on to its prey even when its body has been
hacked to pieces.
British North Borneo
CHAPTER III
COAST TRIBES continued
As before stated, the coast tribes of Borneo are all of
Malay race and of the Mohammedan religion. They
will not touch a pig or eat its flesh ; and all other
animals, unless they receive the "hallal," or cut across
the throat, as prescribed by the Koran, are also barred
as articles of food. A Badjau or Sulu tracker, when
out shooting with a European, directly a stag is shot,
will rush forward and cut its throat from ear to ear
before the animal has breathed his last, otherwise he
could not bring the meat home for his family and
friends to eat.
The little boys are allowed every liberty in the
"kampong." They go where they please, wear no
clothes, have no lessons to learn, and no rules to obey.
When they are very young, however, they delight to
go with their fathers on fishing expeditions, and, armed
with a small paddle, they assist in the labour of paddling
the gobang out to sea. When the boys reach the
age of twelve years they are generally given a pair of
blue cotton trousers, and a red or yellow piece of cloth
to tie round their heads ; or else they wear instead of
the latter, if wealthy enough, a red fez cap or a cane-
woven Dusun hat bought from the hill people. When
14
Coast Tribes
walking about they carry a cane-shafted spear with a
broad blade, and a long sheaf-knife, called a " parang."
The girls do not have such an easy time, although
they are never ill-treated. They have to do the slight
amount of cooking that a diet of boiled rice and sun-
dried fish entails, and they have to plant the sawah
rice-field and weave the "tikars."
The latter are a kind of mat. They are woven with
the fingers from the dyed fibres of a species of cactus.
It looks like broad straw, but is, as a matter of fact, far
superior. The patterns they select are varied, but no
originality in design is permitted. They are to-day
weaving the selfsame patterns that their ancestors wove
a hundred years ago.
The childhood of these little girls does not last very
long. At twelve or thirteen years of age they are
married, often to a man of thirty or more, who may
have another wife already. Their parents do not con-
sider any other question of importance when they can
discover a would-be husband who can answer : " Yes, I
have the three buffaloes and the ten sacks of rice which
you require as this girl's ' brian,' " to the one vital
question of wealth.
The " brian " is the price fixed on every marriageable
girl, which must be paid by her would-be husband
before marriage. The girls, of course, are only married
to Mohammedans. No Malay girl, whether a Badjau
15
British North Borneo
or a Sulu, a Brunei or a Bujis, an Ilanun or a Banjeri,
would be forced to wed a heathen and a pig-eater. The
coast tribes look with the greatest contempt upon their
heathen neighbours, and before the advent of the white
man they ruled the whole country and spent much of
their time plundering the hill tribes.
The costume of women varies with the tribe. Some
tribes wear the cotton Malay " sarong," a kind of skirt
woven in pretty flowery patterns, above which they wear
a white cotton jacket, called a " kabaya." But the Sulus
and Badjaus dress their women in loose cotton or silk
breeches of green, yellow, or blue colour, and rarely
use "sarongs."
A wedding is a long performance. The actual reli-
gious ceremony does not take so long. The Imam, or
priest, mumbles a few words out of the Koran, or if
there is no official Imam, a Hadji a man who has been
to Mecca on a pilgrimage does this, and then the feast
commences.
A wedding -feast is never complete without its
"gammelong," or orchestra of gongs. These are
bronze gongs of great age, none of modern work-
manship existing. They are generally the property of
a comparatively rich man, and are borrowed far and
wide. The actual food supplied is merely rice and
deer-meat, or, perhaps, a young buffalo is killed if the
bridegroom be particularly rich. Often cucumbers and
16
Coast Tribes
other vegetables are served together with bananas, but
a Malay at a wedding-feast looks upon these in the
same way in which an English boy at a birthday-party
looks at bread-and-butter. It is jam and cake that the
schoolboy wants, and venison or buffalo beef that the
Malay wants. The bread-and-butter, and, in Borneo,
the cucumbers and bananas, can stand over for another
day.
Silver " anting-anting," or ear-rings, and silver hair-
pins are often the prized possession of the Borneo
maiden, but only in the family of a Panglima or
Datu will the womenfolk be found to wear much
gold.
The Malay tribesman of Borneo is polite to everyone,
but beyond that he does not go. He walks with a
proud and independent bearing, and he carries always
the eagle eye and the alert expression of his pirate fore-
fathers. He will not work as a coolie nor engage in
any menial task. He is still feared by the hill tribes,
and respected by the Chinamen trading in his country.
Indeed, it is best for them to respect him, as he will
brook no insult from them. Should a "pig of a
Chinaman," as the Malay generally calls him, when
trading in the country, lose his temper and insult an
Ilanun or a Sulu, the latter will hew him down on the
spot, and, vanishing into the jungle, will be lost. He
probably goes to some distant " kampong," following
B.N.B. 17 3
British North Borneo
the road made by the deer or the rhinoceros, and avoid-
ing main paths. However, the hands of justice do not
often fall upon him until long after the crime is com-
mitted.
In England the word " amok " is frequently used,
but few people know the origin of it. Borneo is the
country of the amok. An amok is a man that goes
suddenly insane with rage, and, thirsting for blood,
rushes out with a " kris," or sword, to kill and be killed.
In the madness of the moment an amok will strike
down his own wife and children. A deeply insulted
Malay will often work himself up into a frenzy and run
amok. Directly the cry " Amok ! amok !" is raised
in a village, everyone runs for the boats. They all
tumble in and paddle out to mid- stream. Meanwhile
one or two brave men rush on in the wake of the mad-
man, and sooner or later he is cut down, not, however,
before many innocent people have been murdered by
him.
Just picture a street scene in a small coast port. A
palm-pole jetty running up from the sea, and a beach
fringed with native boats and small Chinese junks are
faced by a row of Chinese shops, whose owners trade
cotton goods, and lamps, oil, and matches, in exchange
for dried fish and deer-hides. Farther along, built
right out over the salt water, are a few native huts.
It is a pretty scene, the background of cocoa-nut palms
18
Coast Tribes
and slender areca palms waving in the breeze sends a
deep green reflection on to the inshore water, while
out seawards the setting sun tinges everything brilliant
in purples, reds, and golds. Ah, never are there such
gorgeous sunsets as in Borneo ! The strip of beach
littered with broken white and pink coral in itself is a
"thing of beauty and a joy for ever." At one end
of the street will be the police quarters and court-
house, with a corporal and Chinese licensing clerk in
charge.
Suppose that it is a fair day, that the hillmen have
come down from their village, bringing tree -gums,
fruits, tapioca, rattan-canes, and other tradeable com-
modities, while the Malays have offered dried fish, edible
seaweed, and nipa-leaf palm-thatch. The Dusuns come
down from the hills, sometimes three days' journey
away, riding on their buffaloes, each loaded up with
trade goods. The women do not get a buffalo, and
have to trudge by the side of their lord and master
through jungle and swamp and across open sun-scorched
" ladangs," which are old, disused rice-fields, carrying a
heavy load as well.
Brass and silver armlets flash in the sun, cottons of
many colours are worn, with here and there a dash of
silky sheen from some Bugi's silk "sarong." The
hillmen are by now half drunk with Chinese spirit,
called " samsu," and probably also with cheap Dutch gin.
19
British North Borneo
A drunken hillman turns round suddenly, and is, in
consequence, run into by a hastening Malay. " Babi-
lu I" the hillman shrieks. " You pig !"
A Mohammedan, and, perhaps, the son of a Datu or
chief, to be called a pig by a low-caste, infidel hillman !
The Malay stops ; he turns slightly pale under his olive
skin. Suddenly he draws his " kris " with a flash, and
the Dusun lies dead at his feet.
A big Sikh policeman steps out of a store. The
Malay sees visions of prison, hateful menial labour, and
years of misery. No ; he will die, and, like all his race,
he prefers to die fighting.
The policeman is on his guard, he wards off a blow
with the butt of his rifle. The Malay rushes on. The
Chinese at the cry of " Amok !" dash into their shops,
and hastily push to the door and bolt it with a wooden
beam. One poor, fat Chinese " krani," or clerk, loses
his wits and runs in front of the madman, who now,
with eyes bloodshot and gleaming and hair flying behind
him, for his head-cloth has fallen off, cuts in the air to
right and to left. One blow, and the Chinaman's head
rolls into the wayside ditch.
The amok rushes on to murder many more before
the crack, crack, crack of rifles tells its own tale. He
is shot by the Dyak or Sikh police as a mad dog would
be shot down at home.
Whilst talking about the Malays in Borneo, it is
20
Coast Tribes
worth while telling how they catch the "jahat," or
man-eating crocodiles.
A goat is killed, and his stomach is taken and used
as bait. Inside it is concealed a bamboo stick, sharpened
at both ends and bent up in the form of a bow, with a
string made of soluble sinews. To the middle of this
bow is attached a twist, composed of many fine threads.
These latter separate out, and after a few yards are one
by one hitched in a row to a small piece of bamboo, and
then brought together again and twisted into one cord,
which is tied to a rope. At the other end of this rope
is a buoy or float. Thus, when the crocodile has
swallowed the bait, the bow opens out in its stomach
and the points pierce him. He tries to bite. He has no
solid cord to bite through, but many, many fine threads,
some of which may be cut by his needle-like teeth, but
a lot are sure to catch in between the teeth and hold.
He soon feels very ill, and climbs up on the bank to
rest himself from the straining of the buoy, for it pulls
owing to the current of the stream beating against it.
Here the searchers from the Malay "kampong" in the
course of a few days find him, and kill him with their
spears.
At each thrust they remind the greedy reptile of a
brother, an aunt, or a nephew, that he has eaten. Little
Barut, or little Dullah, with his tiny spear is there, and
will stab and stab away, his shrill child's voice telling
21
British North Borneo
the fallen monster of his former misdeeds in words of
bitter intensity, for that small child has certainly lost a
baby brother or sister whilst bathing in the stream.
CHAPTER IV
HILL PEOPLE
THE people that live in the hills and upland valleys of
Borneo, to whatever tribe they may belong, are in the
main governed by the same customs and habits, and
live under the same conditions. The difference
between a hill Dyak and a Dusun, for instance, is only
one of language and warlikeness. The Dyak is a head-
hunter that is to say, a young man of the tribe is
not accounted a warrior until he can produce one or
more human heads. This does not mean that he kills
his victims in open battle. No ; how he kills them and
whom he kills is a matter of little importance as long
as he gets the heads.
The Dusun, although similar in appearance, in his
superstitious folklore, and in his daily life, is a peace-
loving fellow. He cares not to kill, and he is timid
and nervous when in contact with people of other
tribes and races. It was undoubtedly fear that in the
early centuries drove his forefathers to the hills, the
22
Hill People
mountains, and the secluded valleys. They feared
the Badjau and the Sulu, as well they might. All the
history of these unfortunate people is one long tale of
suffering at the hands of a stronger race, and meagre as
the history is, owing to a lack of any written Dusun
language, it is sufficient to prove that the Malay
tribes coveted and took by force whenever possible the
" kerbaus," the rice, the sweet potatoes, the pots, the
gongs, and even the coarse fibre kilts and jackets, of
of their weaker neighbours in the hills.
The advent of European rule has to some extent
stopped this, and now the Dusun lives as his heart
desires in peace, under his own palm-tree.
A Dusun village consists of one long house as a
rule. Sometimes, if it is a very big village, it will
consist of two or even three long houses, but each
house will contain from ten to fifteen families.
Dusun houses are much better built than Badjau
houses. They are always built in a clearing on a
hillside near a tumbling stream or waterfall. The
background of gigantic forest trees, with distant
mountain-peaks visible here and there where the trees
are not growing too close to one another to hide them,
is lovely, and in the higher ranges compares well with
any scenery in the world.
The houses are built some distance off the ground,
supported by posts of hard wood. The walls are made
23
British North Borneo
of tree bark or bamboo planks. The roof is thatch,
either palm-leaf thatch or thatch made from the long
plumelike leaves of the rattan-cane. Down one side
of the house from one end to the other runs an open
veranda ; a raised-up bench about a foot off the
floor and about four feet wide occupies the outward
side of this veranda, and opposite the bench are ten
or more doors with ten or more little rooms behind
them. Each room belongs to a family, and one big
room at the end of the row is the room of the
" kampong-kapala " or village headman.
At one end of the four- feet- wide bench is a small
screened-off corner used for keeping the village charms
and articles connected with the Dusun superstitions.
The head of an extra large jungle pig, the horns of a
stag, or even the head of a bear are often hung over
the door of the house as evidence . of the prowess
of some favourite dog.
The Dusuns keep many dogs, and are very fond of
them. Indeed, they make pets of all their domestic
animals, even the pigs and fowls.
A Dusun dog is a very small brown or brown-and-
white dog. He has sharp ears and a very pointed
nose, and is a plucky little fellow at pulling down the
big sambar deer, the wild boar, or even the bear. He
has the Jfull run of the house, and if a particularly
petted dog, he often has a small trough cut for him by
24
Hill People
his master, in which, at the family meal-time, his small
portion of boiled rice is placed.
The space between the floor and the ground is used
by Dusuns as a pen in which to shut up the pigs, goats,
and fowls, at night. The fowls unless well guarded
would soon be all taken by the jungle cat or by snakes.
Of course the distance between the ground and the
floor of the house is such as to necessitate the use of a
ladder. A Dusun with his naked toes finds a notched
pole quite sufficient for him. Should a European pay
a visit, however, he will find it difficult in his shoes to
get a foothold on this sloping pole, and unless assisted
from above will surely slip and fall.
The Dusun children are not pretty. They generally
suffer a great deal from eating too much rice in the
month following the padi harvest, and too little rice
during the other eleven months of the year. This
causes their stomachs to protrude, and spoils them for
ever from an artist's point of view. They would not
make cherubims or even little Cupids, but with a small
tight-fitting green jacket they could easily be turned
into woodland-gnomes.
A Dusun boy is a quaint little elf; his sole garment
is a " chawat " or loin-cloth ; his head is generally
shaven except for a small patch just above the nape of
the neck, where a kind of ragged tassel sprouts out,
making a convenient handle to hold the youngster by
B.N.B. 25 4
British North Borneo
when his father has to give him a hammering for being
naughty.
Funnily enough, when the Dusun boy grows big
the whole system is reversed. Then the nape of the
neck and the back of the head only are shaved, and a
fringe is left all round the forehead.
A Dusun girl has to work hard very early in life,
and so it is impossible to find a pretty-looking maid
over the age of nine. Even at this age they often toil
down from the hills with a large knapsack of bark,
filled with tree-gum or maize heads, and walk for miles
to some market near the coast, returning later with a
load of salt fish or seaweed.
The padi-fields of the Dusuns are always some
distance off from the houses. They are not " sawahs,"
or water-fields. The padi is planted on dry hill soil
in irregular-shaped fields hewn and burnt out of the
virgin forest. They are strewn with logs too large to
burn, and with boulders and outcropping rocks, while
here and there a shanty, perched high upon poles, gives
shelter to watchers, who at night burn torches and
beat gongs in order to keep the pigs, deer, and bison,
out of the crop.
The men assist in cutting the jungle, but the entire
work of planting the crop and harvesting it is done by
the women, and as the land is hill land with often a
severe slope, these latter do not have an easy life.
26
Hill People
The reason that the padi is planted far from the
house is that then there is less chance for the domestic
pigs, fowls, and " kerbaus," to run riot in the crop.
The " kerbau " is a greedy kind of buffalo, and should
he once get into a crop of young padi he will feast
on the green ears until he can hardly move.
It is quite a common sight outside a Dusun house to
see a small child squatting on the grass chewing one
end of a long sugar-cane, while at the other end,
escaping the observation of the child, a small pig will
be sucking at the juices of the same cane. So tame
are these animals that when the child discovers the
thief, and, using the sugar-cane instead of a stick,
catches the pig a sounding blow with it, the animal
only moves a yard away, remonstrating with many
a squeak at such treatment from an old chum.
Very often a Dusun will be seen, when changing
his quarters, travelling with a half-grown pig slung
round his neck. The animal keeps quite still and does
not seem to suffer much through his " topsy-turvy "
position.
The bamboo is utilized in hundreds of different
ways by the Dusun. It grows in many different sizes.
Small bamboos of an inch or two in diameter are used
for making fowl -houses, and also are often tied across
the roof of a dwelling to stop the wind from raising
the thatch. A large bamboo which grows up to a
27
British North Borneo
foot in diameter at the base and forty feet in length, is
made into planks. The way to make a bamboo plank
is to split the bamboo down one side, knock out
the pithy joints and flatten it out, then put heavy
weights on it, and when it is dry it will not any more
curl up into its old cylindrical shape. This species of
bamboo is also made into water-pots. A joint, or
section, is taken, a small hole is cut in one side near
the end, and the water-pot is complete.
The word " Dusun " means orchard. These people
were called " Orang Dusun," or men of the orchards,
because their houses are surrounded by fruit-trees.
These include the durian, a celebrated fruit, much
talked about by travellers ; it is a large green ball, the
size and shape of a Rugby football, with prickles two
inches long all over it. When it is opened, the first
thing discovered is an overpowering odour like nothing
else on earth. A small English boy, the son of a
Borneo missionary, once compared it to the smell of
yeast. Although this gives some idea of the smell, it
is only a little like yeast in reality. According to the
same authority, its taste was like a mixture of custard,
onions, and bad eggs. This last, however, is a libel
on a fine fruit. The flavour must be delicious,
because after the first trial everyone likes it, and many
old planters and Government officials, resident for a
long time in Borneo, crave for this fruit with a craving
28
Hill People
that will take no denial. Far and wide they send to
buy it.
Bananas, papayas, limes, pommeloes, and mangoes,
grow in profusion in the valleys inhabited by the
Dusuns, whilst on the top of the higher hills wild
raspberries can be found. The "rhambutan" is a small
red fruit with a thick peel covered with green hairs, that
somewhat resembles the chestnut, while the " langsat "
is a fruit the size of a large gooseberry, covered with
a peel resembling suede leather. Both of these have a
delicious jelly-like pulp and bitter pips. The gigantic
" tarap," with its hundreds of cream-covered seeds, is an
attractive bait for the larger apes. The orang-outang
makes nightly raids on this tree, and the Dusun sets a
trap to catch him. This latter, however, is rather a
forlorn hope ; no one ever seems to have heard of the
ape being caught by it.
A small green and red parroquet hung in a circular
rattan cage is a favourite pet of the Dusuns. It can
only screech, and, beyond its brilliant coloured feathers,
has no apparent claim to interest. The Bayo bird is
quite different. In appearance like a jackdaw, but
much larger, it displays a wonderful amount of
intelligence. It soon learns to talk, and is much
sought after by people in the coast-stations of Borneo,
who buy it from the Dusuns at a high price.
29
British North Borneo
*
CHAPTER V
HILL PEOPLE continued
IT is a morning of great excitement for the small
Dusun boys and girls when the elders decide to have a
day's " toba " fishing.
The " toba " is a long root planted by the Dusuns
on patches of old padi-fields for the sole purpose of
catching fish. Some of this root, having been dug up
the night before, is carried in the bark knapsacks
mentioned in the last chapter by the girls of the
" kampong " to the spot selected by the headman for
the fishing. This spot will certainly be a fairly wide
pool with a narrow outlet and not too much current.
Over this pool they build a platform of bamboos
and sticks with a floor of tree bark. Here they beat
and bruise the " toba," pouring water on it. Its milk,
like juice, falls into the stream below, and turns the
transparent water into a thin gruel.
This juice thus gets drawn in small quantities into
the breathing organs of the fish. It makes the
smaller ones absolutely unconscious, so that they float
like dead fish on the surface of the water. Even the
biggest fish, and there are some as large as our trout,
are rendered stupid and slow, so that they can easily be
scooped up in baskets and small nets.
30
Hill People
Now the fun starts : men, women, boys, and girls,
even the dogs and puppies, all jump into the water and
grab and snatch at the hundreds of fish thus placed
within their power. Sometimes a small dog running
away with a big fish is pelted with stones by five or six
urchins to make him drop it. One stone catching him
fairly on the nose he drops the fish with a howl, but
before the nearest boy can grab it a smaller puppy with
a lot of impudence will seize it and stagger off amidst
the good-natured cheers of the Dusuns. Such a thing
highly amuses them, and the pup is allowed to keep
the fish.
Tired out with their exertions, the Dusuns in half
an hour or so emerge on the bank dripping wet but
happy. A few of the fish recover and escape down-
stream, but the bulk repose within the tree-bark
knapsacks, to be presently consumed at a great
triumphant feast in the evening.
Dusuns are very fond of a fish diet ; they use a
small hand net, called a "rhambat," about three feet
square, with the edges weighted with iron. This can
be wielded by one man, and affords good sport. With
a clever trick of the hand, the Dusun throws it so that
it alights level with the surface of the water, then the
weights sinking rapidly draw together, and the fish are
enclosed in the slack of the net.
The boys have a simple but effective method of
3 1
British North Borneo
catching small fish ; they find a spot in a stream where
three small boulders form a pool. Into this pool they
bang a large stone, and the concussion on the surface
of the water kills or stuns ten or a dozen tiny fish.
When fish are unobtainable, the small boys catch frogs,
lizards, tortoises, and snakes, all of which go into the
family pot, and nobody seems the worse for it.
Everyone in a Dusun village, except the babies,
have brown or black teeth, and red lips ; this ugly
disfigurement is caused by chewing the " pinang," or
areca nut ; the tall graceful palm that yields this nut
beautifies every jungle clearing.
Before it is ready for chewing the " pinang " has to
be wrapped in a leaf of a creeper called " siri " and
sprinkled with quicklime. This quicklime is made
by burning over a few sticks the shells of large tree-
snails, river oysters, and such sort of things.
Every adult Dusun man has his " siri " box. It is a
brass box about six inches long, two inches deep, and
two inches wide. Inside are two small square re-
ceptacles, one for the lime and one for the " pinang "
nut. Into the rest of the space is crammed as much
" siri " leaf as it will hold.
Politeness demands that every stranger visiting a
Dusun house shall at once be offered a little " pinang "
and " siri." Later he will be offered a cigarette made
of Dusun tobacco rolled up in a piece of scraped palm-
32
Hill People
leaf. And if he is in luck he may be offered a drink
of " tapei," or cocoa-nut spirit, made from the flower
of the cocoa-nut palm by tapping its juice as it grows on
the palm.
The Dusun unfortunately gets drunk upon every
possible occasion. A fair, a wedding, a funeral, the
completion of the harvest these are all sufficient
excuse for him to get drunk, and as he always carries
a spear, and a " parang," or sheath-knife, with him, he
is not a nice man to meet when intoxicated.
A village that has just reaped a heavy harvest will
call all the neighbouring villages to a feast. The
headman and two or three of the others will provide
a feast, four or five pigs will be killed, a goat or two,
and a score of fowls. Huge quantities of sweet potatoes
will be cooked, and, needless to say, very much rice will
be boiled.
The Dusuns plant a small quantity of coarse
tobacco. A month before a feast, a couple or three
pounds of green leaf will have been picked by the old
women, and rammed down tightly into bamboo tubes
to ferment. These tubes are now split open, and with
a knife made out of the peel of a large bamboo and a
sharp though flimsy knife it is the grandmothers of
the village cut up the plug into a stringy tobacco.
During the feast men, women, girls, boys, and
babies, smoke, chew their quids of " pinang " and
B.N.B. 33 5
British North Borneo
" siri," and drink the native spirit " tapei " in all the
intervals between eating. The quantities of meat that
they eat at these times are enormous, but then on
other days they get no meat at all, so that with them
it is a question of making up for lost time.
One kind of " tapei " is made from rice and another
kind from maize. These are both produced in larger
quantities than the cocoa-nut " tapei," and are not
considered so high-class a drink.
A wealthy village at such a feast supplies five or
six square, black bottles of Schiedam gin. This spirit,
always of the cheapest brands, is ruining the Dusuns
that live too near to trading-centres ; compared with it
their own " tapei " is a fairly innocent beverage.
The Dusun music is identically the same as that of
the Badjaus and Sulus and all the coast tribes, for in
music the hill people and their coast neighbours have
the same taste. The Dusun orchestra of gongs when
once it starts goes on steadily for two or three days,
one relay of beaters relieving another until the repe-
tition of the same scale of six notes ought to drive
the whole audience mad. It does not, however ; it
only cheers them.
It is very interesting when far up-country, away
from European influence, to see the Dusuns dyeing
their bark cloth with a species of woad, yielding
identically the same blue as our early British fore-
34
Hill People
fathers are said to have used for staining their own
bodies before they adopted the custom of wearing clothes.
Right far up-country the Dusuns have a dialect which
their own people from parts nearer the coast cannot
understand, and here one will meet with implements,
weapons, and musical instruments, not met with else-
where. For instance, there is a reed whistle blown
with the nose, which, when played, produces very little
sound with a lot of effort ; also a kind of banjo with
one string, a dismal failure to all appearances, but still,
highly prized by its owners.
Most of the more brilliant-patterned Dusun hats
come from up-country. They are woven from the
peel of the rattan-cane, and dyed in black, red, and
yellow colours. In shape they are merely like an in-
verted saucer with a bump in the centre at the top.
However, they wear well and keep off the rain and
sun very effectively. So good are they that the coast
tribes are always eager to obtain them, although they
pretend to hold Dusun ideas and Dusun habits in great
disdain.
The Dusuns have in each village several large green
or yellow ornamental jars called " tajus." Formerly,
before Chinese traders introduced Canton earthen-
ware, the Dusun turned out the jars on their own
humble potter's wheel. Now the art of pottery is
practically extinct, but there remain these few relics of
35
British North Borneo
the past, which the poor Dusuns value above all other
possessions.
The custom formerly was to bury the body of an
important man, such as a village chief or a capable
hunter of pigs and deer, or a wealthy owner of many
"kerbaus," in a "taju." When the old cherished
form of "taju" grew scarce, old graves were dug up
and the jars used over again. Later, Chinese-made
jars were used, and after a time even these were dug
up, and if unbroken, used a second time ; and now
it is a regular custom in many villages to allow the
dead only a few years unmolested, after which their
bones are removed to make room for others.
This custom of burying the dead in earthern pots is
only common to certain localities, but it is probably the
cause of the periodical reoccurrence of that dreadful
infection smallpox, which once or twice in a decade
sweeps off thousands of the hill men of Borneo,
preventing the population from ever becoming any-
thing else than sparse. The infection, buried beneath
the ground, a few years later is dug up again, and
spreads with malignant rapidity over hill and valley,
drawing across this lovely island the black trail of
death.
The roads that connect village and village are mere
tracks winding in and out between the buttressed
trunks of the gigantic forest trees, descending steep
36
Hill People
slopes, running first on one side, then on the other of
rushing hill-streams, and often a foot deep in slippery
mud. For foot passengers they would be most
wearisome, but perched high up on his unwieldy-
looking buffalo the Dusun finds naught to trouble
him. The buffalo uses his feet with the agility of a
goat and the brains of a high-bred charger. His speed
seems not great, but no European could keep up with
him for four hours on his native slopes. In places
where it looks impossible that there can be a negoti-
able descent, the clever animal will slide down almost
on his haunches, bearing safely to the valley below his
owner and a hundredweight of " padi " or resin.
Fords across turbulent hill-streams are nothing to
frighten a " kerbau " ; he is a true species of water-
buffalo, and as amphibious as a hippopotamus. They
would be safe even for an Absalom to ride, for they
note overhanging branches, and stoop their pillar-like
legs as they pass under, so that their rider shall not be
knocked off. They are to the Dusun what a camel is
to the Bedouin, but they have five times the intelli-
gence of a camel.
On a certain rubber estate in Borneo, two Dusun
coolies with two " kerbaus " were working at dragging
shed-posts out of the jungle spot where they were
felled on to the main planting road. An English
doctor, whose bungalow overlooked the road, watched
37
British North Borneo
them for a long time, and noticed that the " kerbaus "
on being unharnessed from a log, immediately turned
of their own accord, and plunged back along the
jungle track to fetch another log. One afternoon he
was much surprised to see the " kerbaus " refuse to
return to the jungle. He asked the Dusuns why ; the
explanation astonished him. Every day previously, one
man and one " kerbau " had had the task of pulling
out five logs for a day's work. That day, as the logs
were smaller, the manager had ordered them to pull
out six. But here the buffaloes struck ! No ; five
they were used to, and five was the day's task ; they
wanted to go and have their daily mud-bath in the
roadside ditch ; no more work for them ! After a lot
of very angry scolding and much tugging at the nose-
rings, the Dusun coolies managed to force their
unwilling fellow-toilers back for another pull.
Besides the Dusuns, other hill tribes that utilize the
valuable services of the buffalo are the Muruts, the
Ibans, and the Dyaks. Even the sea-coast Malays will
not refuse a lift on the broad back of our friend, and
all the planters in Borneo use him to pull their estate
carts to and fro between the plantation and the land-
ing-place where the steam-launch calls with its regular
cargo of rice and other necessities.
The muscular buffalo, the fourth largest of God's
creatures on land, stands pre-eminent as the symbol or
38
The Chinese in Borneo
the island-continent of Borneo, and his iron sinews
will be one of the factors that in the distant future
will push her on to a higher position in the ranks of
continents.
CHAPTER VI
THE CHINESE IN BORNEO
PRACTICALLY every store in Borneo, whatever goods
it retails, is in the possession of and run by Chinamen.
The whole of the import trade and all the export trade,
except such things as timber, tobacco, and rubber, is in
their hands.
Years ago a Chinaman was an object of contempt
and ridicule to every Malay in Borneo. The Dyak
only valued him as an easy prey to his insatiable desire
for human heads. It was then a recognized sport of
the youths among the Dyaks of Sarawak to play at
hunting Chinamen.
Two youths would put all their possessions together
as a stake in the hands of a third party. Then they
would wait on each side of a tree-shaded path for the
next poor Chinaman to come. Some unhappy settler,
with a couple of pails of water hanging from his
shoulders, would come pattering by on his way to
water his young pepper plants. The youths would fall on
him from behind ; with one blow of one of their cruel
39
British North Borneo
krises, off would come his head. Then eagerly search-
ing the body, they would see whether he had any
copper cents upon him or not. To carry copper coin
was then not general. If he had, one man won the
stake and the head, if not, the other was the winner.
This wanton slaughter of Chinamen naturally
retarded the immigration of these hard-working people
into Borneo. But now, under European rule, such
things cannot happen, and the Chinese are flocking
into Borneo in thousands. By their industry and
dogged determination they have won for themselves a
prominent place in the communities of the coast ports,
and having accumulated wealth, with it they have won
a power which can force the respect even of the
haughty Sulu or fierce Ilanun.
Far away up-country a Chinaman wi.l travel to
bring his wares into districts where through lack of
competition he can demand monopoly prices. His
small store, or " kadeh," as the Borneo native calls it,
will be found selling every imaginable thing from
brass-wire to jam, even at the foot of Mount Kinabalu,
Borneo's highest known peak. On the Tempassuk
plains he visits every fair, exchanging cottons for
rattan-cane, which latter he sells to the chair-factories
of Singapore and Hong Kong at a nice little profit of
300 per cent.
This was the first race of men from the outside
40
The Chinese in Borneo
world to visit Borneo, and the Dusuns, according to
their folklore, believe .the nationality of their first
forefathers to have been Chinese. However, of course,
folklore, as usual, is incorrect, an aboriginal tribe
cannot be descended from the sons of an old civilized
race. The proof that the connection of the Chinese
with Borneo is one of long standing lies in the fact
that the name of the highest peak means Chinese
Widow. " Kina " is the hillman's word for China, and
" balu " in Malay is widow. This mixture of two
languages in the formation of the name of a hill or
place is common enough in Borneo.
The great curses of the Chinese communities in
Borneo are the secret societies. Most of these, in the
first place, are intended as benevolent societies, but in
the tropics all the benevolence that may originally exist
in them evaporates, and they become societies of
murderers bent on blackmail and theft. Men of
weak will, joining a society supposed to be engaged
in forwarding funds to rebels in China for the overthrow
of the monarchy, will soon be paying half their earn-
ings into the Society's coffers. Those funds never
reach China; they go to support in idleness and luxury
the heads of the society in Borneo.
A secret society in Sarawak once made an attempt to
overthrow the Government, and they have in another
part of Borneo schemed to seize the Government
B.N.B. 41 6
British North Borneo
Treasury. Punishment of the leaders is impossible,
no one knows the names of the leaders. The same fat
old " Tauki," as they call their merchant, who is
shrugging his shoulders and expressing his abhorrence
of all such deeds and acts, may be the headman of the
secret society that planned the last big gang robbery.
The pig-tail, formerly the most prominent feature
seen by the eyes of an Englishman in a Chinaman's
appearance, has vanished never to reappear. With it
has vanished some of the good manners and behaviour
of the race as well.
The nice clean shaven heads and their black adorn-
ing pig-tails were a picturesque feature of great
attractiveness in the staff of domestic servants of a
European bungalow. Now the " boys " grow a crop
of rusty-bkck bristles on the top of their heads, and
consider that in this item of personal beauty they have
equalled their masters.
Every domestic servant that fetches and carries
within the house is in Borneo called a " boy." Most
of these " boys " are Macao Chinese, and in spite of
the leven of socialistic ideas that is permeating them,
they still are very efficient servants, but for how much
longer they will remain so, who can tell ?
Wages are very high. A good boy gets 20 a year,
and besides that he manages to extract a commission
on all goods that he buys for his master's consumption
42
The Chinese in Borneo
from local Chinese shopkeepers and market-gardeners.
Although he is generally only too willing to swindle
his employer out of a few cents here and a few cents
there, he has his own standard of private ethics that
forbids him to allow any other person to swindle. If
a Javanese fruit-seller should wish to sell bananas at
two for a cent instead of four, the shocked surprise,
disgust, and indignation with which Mr. " Boy " will
greet this attempt is very emphatically pronounced.
The two great advantages that accrue to an em-
ployer who prefers Chinese to Malay domestic servants
are, firstly, that he is not worried for the everlasting
loan or advance on next month's wages, and, secondly,
that he has small cause to complain of laziness.
Many of the lower-class Chinamen marry Dusun
wives ; Dyak wives and Murut wives are also to be
found in the households of up-country traders. But
the custom generally prevailing is that directly a
Chinaman finds that unexpected riches and a certain
social position become his, then he at once searches for
a Chinese wife ; often sending to his own village in far
away Swatow or on the banks of the Si Kiang for a
girl of his own race. His native wife then generally
goes away, sometimes to re-marry to one of her own
tribe, generally to live as a person of wealth on the
money she was given as a parting gift. However, the
sons by the native wife are not done out of their
43
British North Borneo
birthright. The daughters may or may not follow
the mother back to the hills ; if they are of a marriage-
able age the husband will certainly keep them in
order to get the <c brian," or legal payment, from the
men who desire to marry them.
There are instances where the native wife remains at
the head of the household, and the second wife, follow-
ing Chinese custom, has to become her obedient
servant ; but a native woman who retains this position
must be a woman of great acumen, force of character,
and adaptability. Dusun women, as a rule, are not
notable for any of these qualities, being the children of
a race that for centuries has turned its women into
field-slaves and beasts of burden.
A Chinaman is good to his women, kind to his
children, and fond of his home. It is often a fright-
fully dirty home, but happiness thrives in spite of the
dirt, and the little brown half-breed babies that tumble
over one another in front of the palm-thatch hut of an
up-country Chinaman are as happy in their jungle
home as any babe in England.
All the subordinate positions in Government offices
are held by Chinamen, many of whom are the sons of
Dusun mothers, and have received their education in
the mission-schools of the coast ports. In Borneo it is
a Chinaman who sells you a stamp, issues you a license,
examines your baggage for customs dues, and writes
44
The Chinese in Borneo
down your name on a charge sheet ir ever you should
have the misfortune to be under arrest.
The Chinaman competes with the Malay in the
fishing industry, but here he is handicapped. The
amphibious Badjau or Sulu can put to sea in a ten feet
long boat with perfect safety and fill her with fish,
return and leave the splitting and drying of the fish to
his wife and daughters. But the Chinaman requires a
large " tongkang " and his own cumbersome trawling-
nets, and a crew of eight or nine to work them ; then
on the beach he has to employ others to dry the fish
and prepare it for market. Moreover, he is searching
for a paying remuneration, while the happy-go-lucky
Malay only needs a bare living, and an easy life near
the sea that he loves. Many Chinese fishing combines
have come to grief financially ; the idle Malay is beating
the hard-working Celestial in the one industry for
which the former is best suited.
Then the Malays know how to select sandbanks for
setting up " kilongs," or traps, made from bamboo
stakes tied together with a rot-proof root-fibre obtained
from the Dusuns. These they watch from their houses
over the water, and when the tide ebbs low they go
forth to glean the fish that the sea has left behind.
This is an effortless way of catching fish that appeals to
the Malay.
There are, therefore, a large number of Chinamen
45
British North Borneo
who prefer to purchase live fish from the Badjau
fishermen and salt and dry it themselves. They often
give cotton cloth and other goods in exchange, making
a double profit.
In British North Borneo the Chinamen have for
many years past rented the right of collecting the
opium, spirit, and gambling licenses, from the Govern-
ment. This proceeding is called " farming " the
inland revenues, and the men that rent this right are
called "farmers." Thus the Chinese merchant that has
the right of collecting licenses from the public opium-
smoking resorts is called the " Opium Farmer," and this
title clings to him as an honourable and dignified name.
It is a very high ambition for a shopkeeper to aim at,
finally to become the " Opium Farmer."
Yes, the Chinaman is a useful man in Borneo ;
without him no planting, no mining, and no railway
construction could go on everything would be at a
standstill.
CHAPTER VII
PLANTATIONS
AN Englishman as he smokes a cigar little thinks that
the component layers of that cigar are brought together
from the uttermost part of the earth the Carolinas,
Mexico, Cuba, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo.
46
Plantations
The most expensive tobacco in the cigar is the
wrapper, or outside leaf. This can only be produced
of a sufficiently thin and flexible quality in two
favoured spots the Deli plain in East Sumatra, and
in Borneo, where the climate suits the particular
species of tobacco-plant required.
A tobacco plantation in Borneo is a most interesting
place to visit. A little world of its own, landward of
the mangrove and seaward of the foothills, the sandy
loam stretch at the top of a bay that forms the planta-
tion is unique in its self-sufficiency. Its roads lead
from one section to another, and down to the landing-
place where the tobacco is shipped, and from whence
the little steam-launch keeps up communication with
the outside world. It has its own telephone system,
sometimes its own railway, its own hospital, its own
district magistrate, its own post, its own central club,
and its own police-cell. The European staff, the
" Tuans," as the coolies call them, are the aristocrats of
this small world, not to say autocrats, and the manager,
who is termed the " Tuan Besar " or big " Tuan," is
the greatest autocrat of all ; his word is law, none dare
gainsay it ; his power is unique, for he is ruling beyond
the boundary of criticism. Borneo has no real news-
paper, and the press of far-distant Singapore knows
little or nothing of what is going on in the far-distant
nooks and crannies of this great island. But the
47
British North Borneo
Borneo " Tuan Besar " is a just though strict controller
of labour.
The labour is provided by Chinese and a certain
percentage of Malay coolies. The Chinese are re-
cruited in the opium and gambling dens of Singapore,
Hong Kong, and Swatow, and are all enlisted for a
year's service, after which they receive their commission
on the crop and are free to depart. They rarely go ;
the country suits them and the pay is high.
A great man among the Chinese on an estate is the
Head "Tandil," or overseer. He is invariably a man
who has risen from the ranks of the coolies, and won
by his hard work and superior will-power the respect
of his fellow-countrymen and the confidence of the
Europeans. He generally, in the course of fifteen or
twenty years accumulates wealth. He has several
ponies and two or three traps, and drives about the
plantation in grand style ; but it is very seldom that he
leaves the place even for a short holiday-^he must
always be within call to act as interpreter, to hear
complaints, and to put forward all the requests of the
coolies.
The coolies are divided into two classes. The strong,
robust, and capable men each have an acre and a half
of land given to them ; they are advanced money for
food, agricultural implements, and other requirements.
At the end of the year their tobacco is bought
48
Plantations
from them and carted to the fermenting-shed, after it
has been partially dried in large barns, and they start
on entirely new work, which lasts during the four
months of the rainy season. They work then in a
gigantic shed, turning over piles of thousands of
bundles of tobacco-leaf, and sorting it out into
different qualities for the European market.
The scene inside one of these fermenting-sheds is
very picturesque. The centre of the shed is occupied
by a large platform, leaving only a narrow border all
round for the coolies that sort the leaf. On this
platform hundreds of coolie women, mostly hailing
from Java, and men of various Malay tribes, together
with Chinese basket-carriers, are hurrying to and fro,
the coloured flowery-patterned " sarongs " of the
women showing up gaudily with the brown piled-up
leaf as a background. Over all floats the strong
ammonia smell of the fermenting tobacco.
The second class into which the Chinese labourers
are divided is that of the gang-men. These are all
inferior men, either physically weak, or else of a low
order of intelligence, or perhaps old field-coolies who
have come down in the world through opium-smoking.
They must be given work under the eyes of a
European, also a Chinese foreman is put in charge
of them.
The Malay coolies are mostly used for building
B.N.B. 49 7
British North Borneo
sheds, for watching stores, for cartmen, and for mes-
sengers.
The Malay has one great fault : if put on a monthly
wage, he will borrow and spend the money long before
it is due. He is persistently dogging the " Tuan's "
footstep to ask for a dollar advance on his next pay.
On one plantation in Borneo was a coolie named
Ahmed, an old hand who had worked up and down
the coast for this or that company for many years. He
had an old toothless wife, Samira, and when the one
was not gambling at cards the other was, and both
were persistent beggars and borrowers.
One day, about six in the morning, just after the
u ton-ton " had called the coolies to work, Ahmed was
found cringing at the steps of the bungalow of one of
the Europeans, waiting to attract the notice of that
gentleman when he came to drink his early morning
cup of coffee.
Ahmed was wrapped up in his wife's tattered
" sarong," which originally carried a glorious pattern of
scarlet butterflies settling on blue and yellow flowers.
" Why, Ahmed !" said the planter, " why are you, a
man, dressed in a woman's sarong ?"
u Ah, Tuan !" replied the old coolie, " that is my
shame. I was unlucky last night, and I lost all my
wages and my clothes as well."
His clothes had never consisted of more than a pair
50
Plantations
of old trousers, but his generous " Tuan " gave him
fifty cents to redeem them and make himself a little
less ridiculous.
The disgust of the " Tuan " was, however, intense
when he discovered that the bungalows of all the other
Europeans within walking distance had been visited by
Ahmed, and a similar story had produced from each
the begged for loan.
The great institution on the tobacco estates is the
" ton-ton." This is a hollow log cut from the trunk
of a jack-fruit or other similar tree. It is hollowed
out with chisels from one slot-like opening that runs
down it, commencing a foot below the top and ending
a foot from the bottom. It is suspended from a
roofed-in beam, so that it hangs down into a hole or
well, one third of its length reaching below the level of
the ground. When struck, people passing near would
never be deafened by the noise, which, in fact, sounds
surprisingly slight ; but it travels far, and can be heard
right away on the bounds of the plantation. At five-
thirty in the morning the " ton-ton " calls the coolies
to work, and at eleven bids them return for a midday
rest. At one o'clock again it calls, and at six it sounds
the close of the working day. Right through the
night the watchmen have to strike each hour on the
" ton-ton " it is, in fact, the estate chronometer by
which all the staff correct their watches.
5 1
British North Borneo
If its voice is heard in sharply-repeated notes during
the night, every man is alert. That is the sign of
either a fire or a fight in the coolie lines, and it
behoves every good planter to turn out, mount, and
gallop to the scene of the trouble.
A fire at night in a drying-shed is a scene of great
interest to anyone not financially concerned in the
disaster.
These barns are built of palm-poles covered in with
a roof, and walls of thatch called " attap," consisting of
leaves of the nipa-palm fastened together. When dry
they burn furiously, and as they are buildings 32
feet high at the ridge of the roof, and 350 feet
long, the flames produced are enormous.
These sheds generally catch fire at one end, and
directly a European arrives on the scene, he orders
the Malay coolies to swarm over the roof and cut
away a section of the thatch right across, so that the
flames do not spread beyond. Chinese coolies
similarly open up the two side-walls, and then the fire
is cut off and confined, so long as the wind is low, to
the end where it originally started. Meanwhile other
coolies are carrying out the wooden frames on which
the tobacco is suspended from under the burning roof.
Half-naked Chinamen and Malays, and Europeans
clad in pyjamas, boots, and leggings, all covered with
the same black, soot-like ash, are running to and fro
5 2
Plantations
hacking at burning timbers, taking away salvaged
tobacco, or shrieking out hoarse commands, as the case
may be. A short distance away the startled ponies of
the Europeans are with difficulty held by their syces.
Directly the fight with the fire is finished, the Head
" Tandil " and the manager take a roll-call of the
coolies to see if one is missing, for a coolie with a
spite against his " Tandil " or his " Tuan " is very
often the culprit who fires one of these sheds. Seldom
do they catch fire accidentally.
The man who was done out of half his work, when
the Chinese, turning republicans, cut off their pig-tails,
is the estate barber. Previously he had to shave five
or six hundred heads during a month, and comb out
the pig-tails ; now all that he does is to clip off the
wiry black hair from the coolies' scalps every now
and again, when it begins to get so long as to hang
down over their eyes. The barber is to be seen going
his rounds from one row of coolie-quarters to another,
his razors, combs, and scissors done up in a red cloth
and tucked under his arm. When the coolies are
working in the fields the barber sets up his umbrella
near some tree-stump, and conducts his operations in
the open.
In a well-ironed white suit, looking quite professional,
the Chinese dresser from the estate hospital will also
be seen visiting all the coolies, with his medicine- carrier
53
British North Borneo
walking behind carrying a basket full of lotions and
bandages. Cuts, burns, and ulcers he is an adept at
treating. To see him pull out two or three teeth with
a pair of forceps made in the year '70 is a pleasure,
for the estate surgeon trains his dressers well.
CHAPTER VIII
TOBACCO ESTATES
A YOUNG Englishman who has thrown up the hard
work of a London office and sought and obtained a
billet with a tobacco-planting company arrives in
Borneo with the idea that his days of hard work are
finished. He never made a bigger mistake in his life.
He is often sent straight away to run a section of
sixty or more fields. Not being able to speak a word
of Malay, which in a mixed form is the current language
on the estate, he is considered " fair game " by the
coolies, who are as mischievous as schoolboys. Indeed,
now he begins to sympathize with the nervous under-
master whom he teased at school.
At 5.30 a.m. the "ton-ton" goes, and the manager
whistles for his fine Australian gelding, and canters off
as a matter of course to the section of the new assistant.
So, although the young man may have been playing
billiards in the club until midnight, a long morning
54
Tobacco Estates
sleep is denied him, and he has to be " up and getting."
" By jove !" he thinks, " this is worse than catching
the early train, and I have not got an excuse of a
break-down on the line if I oversleep." He swallows
his cup of boiling Java coffee and just runs down his
veranda steps as the manager dismounts from his
hack.
They walk down a road bounded by high-standing
coarse grass or thorny scrub. "This," says the
manager, " was where we planted last year ;" and now
the new hand learns with surprise that the fields are
only used once in every seven years, for tobacco is a
very exhaustive crop for the land to bear.
A Chinese " Tandil " with hat in hand waits for them
in front of the seed-beds, rows of which stretch out
on either side of a central path, some roofed over with
a low canopy of grassy stalks to keep off the scorching
sun, others, their seedlings more fully developed, ex-
posed to the weather.
A tobacco-planter never speaks of a caterpillar or a
grub; everything that crawls is a "worm." Every
year in July a plague of " worms " comes over the
crop. Large holes are eaten in the leaves, and, if the
plague is very severe, the tobacco, when hung up in
the drying shed or barn, resembles old Brussels lace.
The manager now walks down one of the planting-
paths. At right angles to the path, one and a half feet
55
British North Borneo
apart, the baby trees are planted out in rows, each tree
shaded by a flat splint of wood stuck in the ground
and placed so as to shield it from the sun. Farther
off slightly bigger trees have had the earth hoed up
round their roots, and thus a small trench is made
between the rows of trees to carry off the rain. Coolies
walking between the rows are bending their backs over
every tree in turn looking for "worms." Here the
manager points out to the assistant that in two fields
side by side, the one has much "broken leaf," as he
calls it, and the other little, because the one coolie is
an old hand that knows how to look for "worms,"
while the other, searching half of the day, can hardly
find any. There is something to learn even in finding
caterpillars.
In every direction over the fields run ditches and
drains, carrying off the overflowing water from the
tropical rains. In Borneo it often rains three inches in
an hour. The paths are carried over these ditches by
bridges made of two sticks, placed side by side. These
are easily crossed by a coolie, but an inexperienced
European has often had a nasty fall when attempting it.
Not used to taking much exercise so early in the
morning, the new assistant is soon feeling as if he would
like to sit down and have his breakfast, but the energetic
manager goes on. Not until every corner of the
section has had the scrutiny of his experienced eyes
56
Tobacco Estates
does he turn back to the main road, and the assistant
wearily drags his limp body back home. But see
him eat his buttered eggs, and watch him try every
strange dish of his new Eastern menu! On the tobacco
estates everything comes in to make a change in diet
Chinese " mee," Malay " nasi-goring," German " blud-
wiirst," Dutch salted girkins, and a British steak and
onions, all being served at breakfast, tiffin, and dinner
indiscriminately.
Everybody else sleeps between the hours of eleven
and one, but the new hand does not succeed in obtain-
ing the refreshment of body and mind that other people
get from the siesta. The sand-flies and mosquitoes
worry him, and the splash-bath seems a poor apology
for a bath : it does not cool him enough, and the trick
of wearing a light silk Chinese jacket and a Malay
"sarong" during these two hot hours is not yet known
to him.
Poor new hand! To have to turn out into the
broiling heat as tired as when the morning's toil was
just finished is the limit for human endurance. He
drags his weary footsteps once again round his section,
and comes back at five o'clock, to find a smiling
"Tandil" and forty-five ragged " kongsikans" waiting
to be paid their day's wage. This will take an hour,
for they all know he is a new hand, and they all try to
claim a few cents more than they have earned ; but the
B.N.B. 57 8
British North Borneo
" Tandil," fearing the wrath of the manager, saves the
" Tuan " from being too badly fleeced.
As he drops into a long chair and feebly calls his
"boy" to bring a large glass and a cool drink, the
young man confesses to himself that the work done in
an average London office is trifling. After dinner his
nearest neighbour comes galloping up for a chat, and
incidentally mentions that between half-past five and
seven he went out and dropped fifteen brace of pigeons ;
while Thompson, over there across the river, was cer-
tainly after deer, as his rifle was heard three times.
The new man gasps, How can they do it ? He hastens
to ask his friend how he stands it.
" Well, you see," comes the reply, " 1 am acclima-
tized. The Borneo climate is the wonder of the
tropics hot days, but cold nights. It is the cold nights
that pull us through, you know. Old Cadogan over
on Bichit Estate has been out here twenty years, and
he is still good for a hard day's work."
Yes, it is Borneo's cold night breezes that make
her climate one of the best in the tropics for an
Englishman.
Towns
CHAPTER IX
TOWNS
THERE are few towns in Borneo. Banjermassin and
Pontianak, in Dutch Borneo, are the two largest collec-
tions of houses. Then there is Balik Pappan, the town
of the petroleum wells, also in Dutch Borneo, but near
the British boundary. Sandakan and Kuching are
important owing to being the administrative centres of
large areas, but buildings beyond Government offices,
barracks, and the residences of Government officers
they have few to show. With their white plank
bungalows and green palm-trees, tennis-lawns, and
clean gravel walks, they are beautiful to visit and
delightful to dwell in.
During the last few years the rubber-planters have
opened up land for the cultivation of their beautiful
tree on the banks of every river of importance in
Borneo in fact, the old tobacco-culture is taking quite
a secondary place. As a result of this recent develop-
ment many small Government posts are becoming the
nucleus of townships.
On the West Coast Railway, in British North Borneo,
many such townships exist. An optimistic Governor
will almost venture to call them towns, but, as a matter
of fact, they are just baby townships still in their
59
British North Borneo
swaddling cloths, bound up with the red tape of Govern-
ment regulations and under the autocratic rule of the
local district officer. In a day to come, however, they
will have their mayors and councils, their electric lamps
and ice factories, their dust-carts and picture theatres ;
but that will be the day when all the available land is
planted with its millions of rubber-trees and the rubber
is going down the line at the rate of a hundred freight
trains a day.
In the panorama of one of these little railway towns
there are always necessarily three prominent features.
There are the everlasting mountains, always visible in
Borneo, no matter where ; then there is the river, for a
township must be near water ; and, lastly, there are the
Chinese shops. A native of Borneo will live in no
town, and in Borneo the population of a town is neces-
sarily nearly all Chinese ; still, there may be a store-
keeping Indian hadji, and there may be ten or a dozen
Sikh police to add a dash of colour to the ranks of
the citizens.
The miniature coast-ports are all of a type well
known to readers of the South Sea stories of Miss
Beatrice Grimshaw.
A Government house at the back on a hill, one street
of houses and shops, a small jetty, and probably a
church. Then there are sands tinged with white and
red, denoting the presence of coral reefs, and innumer-
60
Towns
able small sailing-craft at anchor, or tied up, or most
probably beached. Over all hangs the smell of drying
sea-slug, something awful at noon in its nauseating
intensity. Once a month the small steamer calls, dis-
charging thirty or forty tons of civilization packed in
tins and bottles. It rarely discharges a saloon pas-
senger, although the steerage passengers are always
mysteriously coming and going.
When the ship has tied up alongside the little jetty,
the harbour-master, who is also the Customs official, the
head of the police, the district magistrate, the post-
master, and the coroner combined, steps on board, and
the good-natured skipper greets him with a smile and a
handshake as an old friend. During his thirty years
on the same route the skipper has made hundreds of
such old friends along the Borneo coast. Friendship
wears well in Borneo.
The next morning the vessel sails, and then the en-
compassing jungle renews its siege of the little place for
a month, and the jungle carries the war right into the
enemy's camp, for, sad to relate, so often can be seen
grass-ferns and even palm-seedlings sprouting in the
main and only thoroughfare. The three tobacco and
rubber estates across the bay get their imports from the
little quayside, and they provide all the freight for the
monthly boat. Should those estates close down, in a
year, more or less, the jungle would have claimed its
61
British North Borneo
own, and not even the wildest and most timid of deer
would be able to detect in this spot aught that tokened
the past or present habitat of man.
The meanings of the names of Borneo's towns are
quite unique and almost fantastic. Kuching means a
" cat," Banjermassin means the " salt flood," Pontianak
means the " hobgoblin," Balik Pappan means the
" turned plank," Sandakan means the " precious thing."
All the " ideal queen " cities of a newly-opened
Californian railway route cannot compete as regards
names with these.
Whilst rounding Balhalla Island and making for the
Customs House in a small native " prahu," an American
Consul was once heard to say that Sandakan was the
loveliest spot in the world. At sunset the scene is
indeed pretty. The town is built straggling over a
long frontage, roads have been cut up rocky inclines,
and on the top of its own cliff each European bungalow
gleams white among its own plumes of waving coco-
nuts. Launches come steaming into the harbour,
towing lighters full of logs for the saw mills.
The road along the sea-front is made from rock torn
out of the face of the cliff. For a long distance this
road runs between the base of the cliffs and a row ot
plank houses, built on high piles over the beach.
It must be funny to live with one's front-door
opening on to a main street, and one's back-door
62
Towns
opening on to the eternal ocean ; but so the inhabitants
of this part of the town live. " Kismet," the eternal
" Fate," will decide whether the typhoon rolls up and
drowns them, or whether they will be merely left a
little longer until the cliff rolls down and crushes them.
They are all Mohammedans, so they are content to
leave it to " Fate."
In Sandakan the half-naked little brown boys, and
the half-dressed little yellow boys, play together on the
sea-front in a fraternizing way, which is delightful to
see. They sit side by side in the classroom of the
mission-school, but when they attain the age of early
youth they begin to find that a Chinaman was born for
work and a Malay was born for play. Then Ah Tam
discovers also that Abdul Johari lives only on rice and
dried fish, and Abdul Johari discovers that Ah Tam
enjoys the flesh of the unclean pig ; and the big barrier
of race prejudice begins to insert itself between the
chums. At the age of twenty the Malay has a
tolerant contempt for the Chinaman, with whom he
only continues on terms of acquaintanceship in order
to borrow from him now and again a dollar or two at
an exorbitant rate of interest.
In the British part of Borneo football is the game
that attracts and interests not only the sport-loving
Malay, but also the hard-working Chinese lad.
The Malay plays with bare feet, kicking the ball
63
British North Borneo
with the sole of his foot just at the base of the toes,
and wonderfully hard can he kick. The Chinese
player generally purchases a pair of cheap football
boots made in Hong Kong, and although altogether
more clumsy than the agile Malay, the inherited
stamina of his race makes him a determined " back,"
while he is more easily initiated into the finer art of
combination.
In Sandakan and Kuching, in the smaller coast-ports,
in fact everywhere where an enthusiastic British official
has introduced the game, a couple of goal-posts will be
seen, and throughout the day Malay boys will be
merrily chasing the leather-skinned ball over the turf,
while at night the Chinese will come down after a hard
day's work and join heartily in the game.
In British Borneo, also, the annual pony races are a
feature of each port. In some secluded corner of the
environs of the town will be a patch of turf, most
liberally scattered with thorny shrubs and weeds, with
a roofed-in plank platform facing on to it. In the
ordinary course of events this open space is used in
drilling the " military forces," consisting of six or seven
Sikhs, a Pathan, and four Dyaks. A funny marching
line they form, too ! A bandy-legged little Dyak
rolling along between two loose-limbed, tall, bearded,
Punjabis, his rifle appearing for a second or two to be
on the point of overbalancing its bearer altogether.
64
Towns
Just before the end of the rainy season a corporal
and four or five prisoners from the gaol appear, and cut
down the thorny shrubs at the rate of one and a half
trees a day. After a month this very tiring work is
finished. The Resident calls a meeting of the principal
townsmen. Two Chinese shopkeepers and the Court
Clerk respond to the call. They each subscribe five
dollars, and together they form a committee. The
committee collect a few hundred dollars and two or
three silver cups from the nearest estates, the Resident
supplies another cup, and pays all expenses not covered
by the collection from the planters ; then he issues
invitations far and wide to attend the races.
It is marvellous how the people congregate. Of
course, a date is chosen when an up-boat and a down-
boat passing are both due. A small Customs boat from
neighbouring American islands may put in, or a naval
survey ship may send its contingent. The planters
come along in their little steam-launches, and the port
at last, from a white man's point of view, appears to be
inhabited.
The roofed-in plank platform, decorated with red,
white, and blue bunting and flags galore, renders its
annual service as a grand-stand. Ladies from up the
coast and ladies from down the coast grace it with their
presence.
The Borneo pony is a little spiteful " cow-legged "
B.N.B. 65 9
British North Borneo
animal, but the plucky Malay jockies, most of them
mere boys, make him go fast enough for the enthusiasts
of the sport to call it racing.
Some of the jockies, for sure, are Badjaus from the
Tempassuk Plain, who have been used to chasing deer
on pony-back through scrub and coarse " lallang "
grass. These will certainly do their best to make a
race of it.
The pony-race is the white man's form of gambling.
The Chinaman has another. In the street of the little
coast-port is a shop bearing the sign or " chop " of the
gambling farmer. Here are small tables covered with
a mat that is divided into four sections. A dice under
a square brass cup is shaken in the middle, the cup
slowly removed, and the dice exposed. Three ! Ah !
Wong Long has won twenty- four cents, and the un-
fortunate Ching Poi has lost forty. Once or twice a
year the farmer has a lottery. His lottery tickets are
in batches, each batch named after an animal.
Some little " Amoy," as the Chinese child is termed
in general, dreams about a huge hungry crocodile.
He tells his father about it. The father sends him to
the rich uncle who rents the opium licence, and is
credited with having great wealth. The uncle gives
the child fifty cents to put on " Mr. Crocodile " in the
lottery. He himself, secretly, believing in the value of
the child's dream, puts fifty dollars on it. The story
66
Towns
gets round the town ; everyone is eager to buy the
tickets with the figure of a crocodile on them. They
are sold out.
The day of the raffle comes. " Mr. Crocodile's " is
not the winning card ; instead " Mr. Iguano " turns up.
" Ah !" says Amoy, " I was near the mark : I only
mistook an iguano for a crocodile." He is quite
happy about it. But his uncle and many another past
friend-in-need have no more spare cents for little
Amoy when he next dreams a dream.
Of Borneo's towns and town-life there is not much
to tell, for the great wild island is typically the land of
jungle, and head-hunters, and all those kind of romantic
things, creatures, and men, that keep far, far away from
towns and cities.
CHAPTER X
THE "ORANG-OUTANG"
UNDER this peculiar name the people of England
know the giant ape of Borneo.
But it is only the people of England that call him
by this name. His Malay name, by which all other
Europeans call him, is "orang-utan." "Orang"
means man, and " utan " means forest, hence his proper
name is " forest-man," or, to use poetical licence, " wild
man of the woods."
6?
British North Borneo
He is reputed to be the largest of apes, next to the
African gorilla. On account of his repeated raids
upon Dusun fruit-trees and maize-fields, a long feud has
been carried on against him by the hill people.
The Dusun chief weapon for attacking him, the blow-
pipe, is an instrument of sudden death, made out of so
fragile a material as to appear but a toy. It consists
of a tube of hard wood, four, five, and five and a half
feet long. One end is shaped to fit the mouth, the other
end has a sharp stabbing blade attached, like a bayonet
to a gun. Inside the tube of hard wood is sometimes
inserted another tube, made from a stick of softer
wood. The darts are small and light, and carry a
strong poison. It is known throughout Borneo by the
native name of " sumpitan."
When the child or woman who is on the watch
shouts out that a "kogyu," which is the local name
of the ape in the hill villages, is in the fruit-trees,
then half a dozen men and boys seize their " sumpi-
tans," and, creeping round the base of the tree, they
fire volley after volley of small inch-long darts at the
red hairy body of the ape. If he is on a low branch,
he is soon overcome by^the poison and falls. But if high
up, it is probable that the one or two darts that reach
him only sting him into a fury. He dashes to and
fro, shaking the branches of the tree as violently as
ever they were shaken by a gale. The fruit falls in all
68
The " Orang-Outang "
directions. If it is " durian " or " tarap," the size and
weight of which are considerable, the Dusuns stand
clear, for even a Dusun skull is not proof against such
a bombardment.
They do all they can to keep the ape from jumping
to another tree ; of course, only when the trees are far
apart do they succeed. If he can swing from tree to
tree, he often manages to travel in this way back to the
jungle. In the dense jungle he travels among the
tree-tops at a pace which defies any attempt at follow-
ing. However, supposing that he is isolated in a high
tree, with no chance of escape except along the ground,
the Dusuns will, by pretending to run away, induce
him to come lower and lower, until, when well within
range, a volley of the fatal darts places him finally
hors-de-combat.
The Dyaks, who still keep the skulls of their
fathers' slain human foes, to show the prowess of the
" kampong " in days gone by, are very fond of
adulterating their heap of gruesome heirlooms with
the skulls of big "orang-utans." So much has this
been done, that in some of the Dyak " kampongs " the
pile of trophies is composed only half of human heads.
This is the one instance in which the ape can take the
place of man to great advantage.
In tall trees, perched on the mighty shoulders of
the jungle-clad mountains, the "orang-utan" builds
British North Borneo
his house. He breaks off branches and weaves them
into a leafy bower, where, swayed by the wind, he
can sleep far away from the sting of the sand-fly that
torments him in the valley. From here he sends forth
his challenge, a weird gutteral call " Ko-gyu, Ko-gyu."
It is after this call of his that the Dusuns have named
him. When the leaves of his bower have dried and
become crisp, he forsakes it and makes another in the
next tree. Sometimes a clump of trees will contain
eight or nine of these forsaken homes, and the one that
is not yet abandoned will be difficult to locate from
the ground below. From this habit of the "orang-
utan " has come the yarn that away in his own
mountains he builds villages, and lives in what, for an
ape, is an advanced state of natural evolution. But
the student of Darwin who has accepted this story
must be disappointed. A whole village is occupied only
by one old grandfather ape, or a mother and her little
clinging "progeny."
The Dusuns credit the " orang-utan " with devilish
malignity, but as a matter of fact the poor creature is
a great deal more frightened of them than they are of
him. The Dusuns often capture young ones, and tie
them up with a piece of rattan-cane, on which they have
threaded joints of hard bamboo to prevent their biting
through it. These youngsters soon become tame.
The " orang-utan's " food, besides fruits, is very
70
The " Orang-Outang "
varied. He must in the course of a year destroy
hundreds of birds'-nests, as he is a glutton with eggs.
He also devours the crown of the young forest palms,
all kinds of young shoots, and, above all, the wild
banana, stem and flower.
There are two species of " orang-utan " in Borneo,
the one reaching to a very large size indeed, the other,
although exactly alike in other respects, never exceed-
ing forty to forty-five pounds in weight.
When kept as domestic pets by Europeans they
become very affectionate, and, unless teased, can be
trusted in every way. Of course, they cannot be let
loose, as, like all apes, they pull every bright or pretty
thing to pieces to see of what it is made.
Many "orang-utans" in captivity die quickly.
Down near the ground and in the plain they soon
sicken. Although coming from a tropical land, they
cannot stand intense heat. Their habitat being among
the forest giants on the hills naturally makes them feel
the intenser heat of the valleys and plains, and their
usual sleeping-place being above the mosquito zone, for
them to sleep with swarms of these buzzing, biting
insects round them is torture. If an " orang-utan " be
found chained to a post below a European's house,
then at night, out of charity, give him an old sack to
get into not to keep him warm, but to keep the
mosquitoes off him. No " orang-utan " can be fed on
7 1
British North Borneo
cake containing animal fat other than butter, as it is
for him a poison ; but he will be thankful for copious
draughts of cow's milk, for eggs, and for fruit. He
also likes boiled rice well salted.
Given a handy post up which to climb, and a
horizontal scantling from which to swing, the " orang-
utan " will reign supreme over all the other domestic
pets. The dogs will soon learn a lesson they will
never forget if they set on to him. He will swing
from his perch, catch a dog by a hind-leg, lift him far
off the ground, and gash a fearful wound in the poor
brute's thigh before hurling him down again.
A female " orang-utan " in the possession of a
rubber-planter was very fond of stealing the young
puppies of a bull-terrier bitch. At first the puppies
yelped, and the bull-terrier was furious with rage and
anxiety. But the ape, high up on her post, serenely
went on hugging and nursing the two puppies she had
stolen, regardless of the tumult she was creating. The
puppies, when a month old, no longer objected to their
volunteer nurse, and the old mother terrier forgot and
forgave her original anxiety, and allowed the ape to
nurse the pups, even on the ground, unmolested.
The head of an "orang-utan" is nearly bald, two
tufts of red coarse hair only generally growing right
at the back of the top of the skull. His face, when
his cheeks are not filled with food, is wreathed with
72
A SULU HOUSE AND COCOANUT
PLANTATION.
The " Orang-Outang "
wrinkles, thus giving him altogether a very old, care-
worn expression. In captivity he is generally given,
by the Chinese " boys " and other servants of the
house, the nickname " botak," or, to put it in vulgar
English, "old bald-head."
In the mountains there exists a large red monkey,
not an ape, but a creature with a glorious tail. His
fur is long and of a light brick-red colour. He is
very rare, but has been seen by Europeans on two or
three occasions. When a specimen has been shot and
put before naturalists, it will probably be proved that
this is the largest monkey in the world.
Borneo is a great land for rare and curious monkeys
and apes.
In the estuaries of some of the rivers arc tribes of
long-nosed monkeys. They live on the bean-like
seed of the mangrove, and are dwellers among swamps.
Extremely timid and shy, this animal is only obtainable
by approaching it with caution in a boat. The young
will not live in captivity. His fur is thick and glossy,
quite unique among monkey-garb for its beauty, and
in size he is little inferior to the smaller "orang-
utan."
The celebrated Gibon ape is very common in
Borneo, where it is called the "wawa." Its cry of
" 666p-6<3p-op ppp " can be heard soon after day-
break ringing out loudly through the jungle thickets.
B.N.B. 73 10
British North Borneo
Its face is black and shiny, encircled by a fringe of
short hair. It makes a gentle pet, but a dangerous
one for strangers to handle.
The fierce " kraah " monkey is very similar in
appearance to the small travelling companion of an
Italian organ-grinder, but larger. These are nasty
brutes. When young they would bite their owner, if
they could only pluck up courage to do it ; and when
old and still in captivity they do bite everybody they
can get near, and are best shot and buried, for even the
strongest chain may snap. One of these, a brute about
six years old, once got loose and ran " amok " through
a bungalow. He caught the "boy" by the arm and tore
his hand into ribbons. By the time he was finally shot
the amount of damage he had done was considerable.
CHAPTER XI
TIMBADO AND DEER
DOWN in the glades where the brooks dash over their
rocky courses, and where sweet grasses grow on the
native's disused rice-fields, the herd of " timbado " will
be found. The old male alone is standing and flapping
his tail to keep off the flies that " buzz " around ; the
cows and their young are lying half-concealed in the
tufts of grass.
74
Timbado and Deer
Although smaller than the <c sladang " of the Malay
Peninsula and some other breeds of bison, yet the
" timbado " is a mighty fellow in his way, being larger
than a Herefordshire bull. The great characteristic
about him that impresses the sportsman most is his
square appearance. A huge square chest, a square
head, no curves or rounded surfaces except his small
insignificant horns. For the size of the brute the
latter are terribly disappointing ; they rarely exceed
24 inches in length. His colour varies slightly, but is
darker than that of his relatives in Regent's Park, and
in old animals becomes a dark chrome flecked with
white.
A terribly shy animal is this "timbado," and the
difficulty for the sportsman to get within range of him
is great. When worked into a fury by the worrying
of two or three dogs, however, he no longer heeds the
presence of man, but with head down and nostrils
dilated he seeks to impale his canine tormentors on
his black glossy horns.
Hence it is that many planters and other English-
men in Borneo keep a pack of mongrel dogs, with a
Jot of the native pariah blood in them to make them
keen in the jungle, especially for shooting " timbado."
They also keep a Malay tracker, or, to use the common
world-wide term, " shikari."
At four o'clock in the morning the " shikari," with
75
British North Borneo
two or three of his younger brothers, will wait outside
the " Tuan's " bungalow, and directly they have aroused
the heavy-sleeping Chinese boys, they get the latter to
catch the dogs that are going to be used and to put
them on a leash made of cane. The best of these cane
leashes will not entangle or catch, however thorny and
overgrown the route may be.
The boys arouse the "Tuan," and on a cup of hot cocoa
and two or three raw eggs he makes a hasty, but sustain-
ing, meal. Dressed in a suit of green Indian "kananoor,"
which matches the foliage and grasses through which
he will have to track his wideawake quarry, with a
double "terai" hat and puttees, the sportsman looks like
a modern Robin Hood about to poach the King's deer.
The " shikari " is in front with the gun, the " Tuan "
next, and then the young lads with the two selected
dogs, and so they steal along the overarched bed of
some watercourse leading into the heart of the jungle.
After walking for perhaps an hour, the " shikari " begins
to get very cautious. If the " Tuan " steps upon a
twig he will turn round and look at him almost sorrow-
fully ; if one of the youngsters treads on the toe of the
dog he is leading and the dog yelps, the "shikari"
turns with an evil glint in his eye, and gives the culprit
a look that seems to convey that old, old phrase,
" Only wait 'til I get you home !" Presently the
" shikari " pauses, carefully examining an almost in-
Timbado and Deer
visible impression on the carpet of leaves that covers
the ground. He barely whispers as his mouth forms
the word " bkas !" footmark ! Everyone gets excited.
The dogs are only with great difficulty prevented from
whining, so intense is their desire to be let go. The
" Tuan " crawls up to also examine the impression. He
signals, and the dogs are released. They rush ahead,
and in a few seconds their "yap, yap, yap," tells their
human companions that they have come up with the
bison. No longer necessary now is it to worry much
about snapping twigs, as all the beast's attention is con-
centrated upon his canine foes. The European dashes
forward, seizes the gun, and is soon crashing through
thorny shrubs and spiky clumps of bamboo in a way
that bids fair to tear- his suit to ribbons. In fact, it
often does more than this it tears the skin to ribbons
also.
A glimpse is caught of the tossing head and torn and
bleeding cars of the " timbado." Up goes the rifle
without a pause. Bang! It looks like a clean miss,
but when the gun is re-loaded, they push on to find
blood-marks on the track. Soon the dogs hold the
animal again. The gun gets another chance, and this
time a well-aimed heart-shot drops the big animal dead.
The " shikari " measures the horns, and protests that
they are some of the finest he has yet seen ; but his
" Tuan," having heard this tale before, confines himselt
77
British North Borneo
to the less enthusiastic remarks that he is an "old
male," " no youngster this time," etc.
One peculiarity of this species of bison is that the
female has no real horns at all. She has only two queer
little bumps projecting about six inches or more from
the head.
Deer-shooting is also a great sport for the Borneo
planter, but, owing to the dense crackling scrub or
thorny jungle in which the deer hide by day, only
" snap " shooting can be obtained. That is to say, the
animal is come upon suddenly near at hand just as he is
rising to flee, and the gun must be raised, aimed, and
fired, all in a fraction of a second.
The deer-drive is quite another mode of killing deer.
Sometimes Europeans join in with guns, but generally
it is Badjaus or Dusuns alone that "jaring," as the
natives term it. The system they follow is this: They
make two or three hundred slip-knots from rattan-cane,
then the loose ends of these slip-knots they weave into
one common cord, or rope, of great strength. This is
hung between two young trees that are situated far
enough apart for the purpose, and, if the ground is
fairly open, the rope is concealed with fern leaves,
branches, etc. ; the running nooses hang down, and are
always more or less hidden in the grass.
In front of this net-like contrivance a clearing of
thirty feet is cut, and the best spearmen wait here
78
Timbado and Deer
beneath some ant-hill or tree-stump. The dogs, the
boys, and the rest of the men start about 600 yards away
from the clearing to drive the deer towards it and the
net. They work forward in an extended line, beating
the shrubs and saplings with the spears they all carry,
while the dogs keep up a continuous " yap." The ends
of this line begin to get in advance until the beaters are
beating in a semicircle.
When the man on the extreme right reaches the
clearing, he waits for the man on the extreme left to
appear, and they guard the ends of the rattan-net while
their centre of attack closes in, thus compelling the
deer enclosed to cross the clearing, and either leap the
net or get entangled in it.
Meanwhile many stray does, frightened by the noise
and harassed by the younger dogs, break through and
rush into the hidden danger. The spearmen, with
wonderful quickness of aim, fling their spears at them.
So strong are these little brown natives that some-
times a spear will go right through a deer, so that
the tip of the blade appears on the other side. They
then rush on the wounded animal and give it the
" hallal," or throat-cut, as enforced by the Koran
in order to enable good Mohammedans to eat the
flesh. Dusuns, of course, do not worry over this last
detail.
When the centre part of the beating-line begins to
79
British North Borneo
approach quite near, the old stag can be expected.
Often, however, a clever old beast will break back
through the line of beaters and escape, while another
will jump half the clearing and the net at the same
time.
The Borneo deer is a weighty specimen of his kind,
but his horns, although thick and heavy, are very short,
and never have that same elegance that the antlers of
other deer have.
On the Sugut, Labuk, Kinabatangan, and other
East Coast rivers, are found large herds of elephants
and numerous rhino. The export of rhino horn to
the Chinese market has long been a profitable branch
of Borneo's trade. The Chinese use it as an ingredient
in several family medicines, their ideas with regard to
drugs being very different from our own.
The elephant of Borneo is the smallest of the dark-
skinned species of Asiatic elephant. All the same for
that he looms up large and awesome in the sight of
some timid night-wanderer, who sees him standing in
the moonlight across a jungle path. The Borneo
rhino is also a small animal to bear that name, but
his presence among the fauna of any land is enough to
add a lot to the fame of the country in the eyes of
sportsmen.
A certain Malay, who owned a name common enough
in Mohammedan countries, Ishmail or 'Mail, migrated
80
L
Timbado and Deer
fifty years ago from the State of Kelantan into Borneo.
He had been trained from his boyhood's days to hunt
the elephant with a poisoned spear, the Kelantanese
being the most famous elephant hunters of all Malays.
He settled down on an East Coast river, and married
a native of Borneo, or rather two or three, for Islam
allows its faithful to be polygamists. He had several
sons, but the favourite of all was Bakar, the eldest,
who, following the instructions of his father, became an
expert elephant killer.
Bakar was sitting one day at dusk in the top of a
small padahan-tree, waiting for the elephants to pass
beneath on their way to the stream where they nightly
bathed. He had been there five nights in vain, the
elephants having chosen another route. Suddenly a
crashing in the jungle and the trumpeting of a male
notified the approach of a herd. Bakar lifted his spear
with both hands, and as the leading male passed
underneath he thrust downwards with such force that
the heavily weighted spear overbalanced him, and he
found himself prostrated on the broad back of a raging
vicious elephant. He lost consciousness, and of where
he was carried he knew nothing.
Some time later the hill tribes living in the vicinity
of the head-waters of the Kinabatangan River brought
down to the nearest Malay village a thin, emaciated
human being with wild insane eyes, who they declared
B.N.B. 81 ii
British North Borneo
had wandered down from the interior mountains and
begged for food at their " kampong."
This was Bakar. He had recovered consciousness to
find himself hanging in the wrist-straps of his spear on
the body of a dead elephant. But the broad stream on
whose banks he first encountered the herd had dis-
appeared, and he found instead a small hill stream
gurgling beside him. The shaft of the spear, pro-
truding from the elephant's body, was shattered by
knocking against overhanging branches, but it had
sheltered the body of the unconscious man from many
a blow.
He had travelled on the back of an agonized
elephant over three ranges of mountains !
Bakar was the last elephant hunter in Borneo to use
the heavy poisoned spear. He may probably be still
alive, but it is doubtful whether he ever goes after
elephants now. The European with his rifle is
the only possible foe that the Borneo species can
encounter.
The small " plandok," about the size of a hare, and
the " kijang," about the size of a whippet, are peculiar
members of the deer tribe. The " plandok " has no
horns, only two tusks curving from the upper jaw
downwards and backwards; while the "kijang" has
tusks and horns. The weird ghostly shriek of the
" kijang " is like the cry of no other animal. The
82
Timbado and Deer
early pioneers who first penetrated the jungle of
Malaya must have been awe-struck by that blood-
curdling sound. Moreover, the " kijang " always starts
calling at dusk.
With big fierce " tuskers," or, to give them their
traditional name, wild boars, the lands surrounding
settlements and plantations abound. The Chinese
market gardener often has to face the complete de-
struction of his small patch of tapioca, and is very
careful to see that his fence is kept in proper repair.
CHAPTER XII
BIRDS'-NESTS AND FLYING FOXES
IN the rich man's house in China the most costly dish
that the host can set before the guest is bird's-nest
soup. The birds'-nests from which this luxury is
made are imported into China from Borneo.
Lofty caves with floors of guano, the deposit during
centuries of myriads of bats and thousands of birds,
are the source from whence comes the supply of
edible birds'-nests. The comparatively small opening
by which the nest-collectors enter and leave the cave
is generally situated in some hill valley. The birds,
however, have probably several other entrances, high
83
British North Borneo
up near the roof of the cave, although, of course, the
caves vary in this respect
To enter one of these storehouses of Nature is an
experience which few white people have encountered.
Out of the brilliant tropical sunshine into absolute
black night the visitor steps, and a chilly feeling at
once creeps down his spine. A rumbling whisper
circulates around. It is the noise of the wings of
thousands of bats. The atmosphere is damp ; dirty
water trickles off the roof, and forms pools into which
one splashes and stumbles, anything but happily, for
there is a constant feeling as if scores of leeches, snakes,
and other creepy creatures were offensively alert.
The native guide, the descendent of generations of
men who have with others taken part in the
labour of collecting the nests, holds a spluttering resin
torch on high, and huge black shadows cast by the
wings of the bats chase themselves across the vault.
A stout bamboo is stuck in the floor, a nimble lad
climbs up it, and ties another on to its extremity, so
that the pointed top enters a cleft or cranny in the
roof of the cave. He then mounts the second
bamboo, and pulls off from the roof a couple of nests.
They are of the white variety, very costly in China ;
but here they look like a collection of dead leaves and
feathers stuck together with light-coloured shellac.
The commoner black variety are even less attractive.
84
Birds'-Nests and Flying Foxes
The nests are collected at fixed periods by the
families claiming hereditary proprietorship in the caves.
In some parts of Borneo, through the original owners
having become connected with native risings, the caves
have been confiscated and rented by the Government to
Chinamen.
At the back of one of the most famous of these caves
is a subterranean stream and pool, the latter the abode
of blind fish. These fish are a species of cat-fish, but
very small ; the head possesses six or so tentacles, or
rather, as the natives say, "whiskers," but is absolutely
without eyes. Although it would be easy to catch
them, they are considered to be possessed of malignant
magical powers, and are left unmolested.
The " karlong," or flying-fox, is a well-known
Borneo marvel. As a matter of fact it is nothing more
than a huge bat, but what a bat ! Across the wings it
will measure five feet eight inches, while its fox-like
head ends in a hard bone muzzle, operated by powerful
jaws, and armed with quite formidable teeth.
At certain seasons of the year these creatures fly in
battalions from the mangrove swamps of the coast to
the fruit-bearing area of the foothills every night.
They have been proved to cover a distance along a
telephone route of sixty- four miles in two hours, their
steady hawk-like flight being of quite a different
character to the flight of most bats. Some of the big
British North Borneo
males fly very low down, and can easily be brought to
the ground with a charge of buck-shot. They are
seldom killed outright, however, and in a wounded
condition are nasty brutes to handle. One of them,
some years back, when being picked up by a planter,
whose friend had just shot it, wound its wings round
his arm and tore pieces of flesh off without the planter
being able to shake his arm free. Dogs even have
been badly bitten through wounded bats suddenly
clinging on below them when they went to retrieve
those brought down by a gun.
A Sulu considers these brutes the angels of Satan,
the souls of the wicked departed. To get a flight of
them over a newly sown "sawah" rice-field is an evil
omen for the crop, and superstition blames the "kar-
long " for trouble of every kind.
Besides the " karlong," there are many other weird
creatures that come abroad at dusk. The mosquito-
hawk, a small owl who can turn his head round twice
without dislocating his neck, commences to " tok-tok-
tok " about seven o'clock. If one is seen sitting on a
post, his eyes will certainly be turned towards the
approaching human being. If, then, the latter walks
round the bird, the two phosphoresent points of its eyes
will follow him all the time. Yet once more the
circuit can be done, and still the bird's eyes revolve
steadily round ; but then the resiliency of its neck is
86
Birds'-Nests and Flying Foxes
exhausted, and in order to focus its sight on this
inquisitive person again it has, so to say, to "unscrew"
its neck first. It does this while taking a short flight
to the next nearest post.
The " tokit," a beautiful little spotted house lizard,
makes a noise just like the mosquito-hawk. He is a
plucky little fellow. Should he be discovered with his
wife promenading on one of the bungalow's roof-
scantlings, and any attempt should be made to capture
them, he will rush at the person attempting this with
jaws wide open, uttering fierce "tokits." However,
his small mouth was only made for swallowing moths
and beetles, so that he has no weapon to support his
brave attack.
Cobras abound in Borneo, also the hamadryad, or
" snake-eater," is found. The latter, perhaps, can
hardly be said to abound, but one or two have been seen,
denoting that many more exist in the leafy recesses of
the jungle. The hamadryad is the most poisonous of
all snakes, and is the largest of the hooded snakes. Its
food is other snakes, and it can swallow anything in
this line up to six feet, although itself not exceeding
six feet nine inches or seven feet in length.
Early in the morning the cobras affected by the
chilly night crawl on to a main path, where they can
get the warming influence of the early morning sun.
Many a time a native gets up early to go down to
8?
British North Borneo
the river and bathe, and later his poor swollen body is
found beside the path, black through the virulence of
the cobra's poison. He trod on one that was sunning
itself on the path.
A wasp, called by the natives the " reminder," two
kinds of centipedes, and four species of scorpions, the
fire-ant, and the minute " tungo," all help to complete
Nature's happy family circle in Borneo.
The " tungo " is a microscopic creature like a minute
scarlet spider, that bores a hole into any naked foot
that it can reach and deposits there its eggs. Within
four hours the eggs hatch, and chronic itching follows.
People "running the gauntlet" of the jungle, if not
stung by fire-ants, wasps, centipedes, or scorpions, nor
visited by the sociable " tungo," will certainly not
escape the tree-leeches, which, although only as thick
as a piece of horse-hair when in normal condition, are
still a much-dreaded pest. They bite through socks,
they wriggle up sleeves and under jackets indeed, it
is impossible to make the body impregnable to them.
The beautiful butterflies and moths of Borneo are
beyond any brief description. For orchids it is the
most famous country in the world, and, indeed, in this
magic island beauty is rampant everywhere.
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THE WAVERLEY NOVELS
By SIR WALTER SCOTT
The Authentic Editions of Scott are published solely by A. and C. BLACK,
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LIST OF THE NOVELS
Waverley
Guy Mannering
The Antiquary
Rob Roy
Old Mortality
Montrose, and Black Dwarf
The Heart of Midlothian
The Bride of Lammermoor
Ivanhoe
The Monastery
The Abbot
Kenilworth
The Pirate
For Details regarding
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Peveril of the Peak
Quentin Durward
St. Ronan's Well
Redgauntlet
The Betrothed, etc.
The Talisman
Woodstock
The Fair Maid of Perth
Anne of Geierstein
Count Robert of Paris
The Surgeon's Daughter, etc.
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