the Labuk, near a Dusun kampong called Sasapohg.
I took all my men over to the hill, and we ran a hole
some six or eight feet in. No change of strata was
noted, nothing but a solid hill of the purest talc.
The Tanah Dumpas men number : Sulus, 30 ;
Dusuns, 40. Headman: * SeribanOg sah ToncOm. All
these people are poor, and in great want of rice.
The next day I sent the Sandakan police back with
notes and lists of provisions required. I t was arranged
that on the 3rd of April they should be at Tanah
Dumpas with the things, and that Smith should be
there to take the stores. Smith and nearly all the
men went on up stream towards Sogolitan, at which
place he was to stay until I came up. I thought it
advisable to explore the country on .the right bank, in
the direction of some hills which the natives said were
not far from the Kinabatangan. In order to do this
Dusun guides must be procured, and it was arranged
to start to-morrow. The people here are rather grasping,
and are continually begging rice.
• I left Tanah Dumpas with my Dusun guides on the
16th, and ran down the river as far as a small island,
into whose right passage flows a tributary called the
Telupid. Entered the river at 9.30, course being S.
to S.S.E. We passed a beautiful waterfall on the
left bank, and our course changed to E.S.E. This
river is very like the last one I ascended, deep, dark,
and placid at its mouth, and becoming a rushing torrent
a little way up. The country is thickly wooded
with enormous trees and rattans, and surrounded by
high hills. I carefully examined thé rolled pebbles in
the river ; they were identical with the stones found
in the other river, previously noted.
111.
Not being able to find traces of any useful mineral
in the Telupid, I left this river and followed up one of
the tributaries, going overland to do so. Had the
greatest mineral treasure imaginable lain in the hills,
nature had taken effectual means to conceal it. I
was never in, a jungle with so many leeches as well
as other flying and crawling pests.1 The rattans also
were a great obstacle, stretched as they were across
the path at heights varying from one inch to 30 feet.
These catch the feet and trip up the traveller, while the
rattan leaves hang down from above, armed with hundreds
of thorns, each one strong enough to catch a
fish with; and indeed they are used for this purpose.
The tributary we were following was called the
Tirabalas, it runs into the Telupid on the right bank,
and both rivers rise in the Gempis hills. The whole
country from here to the Kinabatangan is called Pomo-
danyoun. The rock at the head of the Timbalas was
a decomposing quartz, containing plates of mica, but
all in a very pulverulent and decomposed state.
March 17th.—Left our camp at Tanah Dumpas and
passed through the N. channel of a large island which
1 “ The land leech is a troublesome pest to those travelling in the
jungle, both from their large numbers and from the fact that besides
the weakening effect from the loss of blood, bites occasionally give
rise to troublesome sores. I have heard of no real case of injury from
poisonous snakes and have seen few such snakes. Centipedes occur
frequently in the houses, but their bite is painful only-for an hour or
two. Scorpions are found occasionally in dead wood, &c. Fish with
poisonous spines occur frequently and sometimes give rather troublesome
wounds.”— Medical Aspect of North Borneo, by T. II. Walker,
A.M., M.B., Principal Medical Officer o f the Company, Nov., 1883.