I took some bearings of Kina Balu from Toadilali;
they were as follows :—
Highest peak . . . 327°
Right extremity . . . 334°
Left extremity . . . 323°
VI.
The spot where we put up to-night is a small house
belonging to Degadong. The place is very hot and
dirty, and the people very primitive and frightened.
Pigs, dogs, and dirt are the great drawbacks to a
Dusun house, but one can get used even to these discomforts
in the jungle. The headman of Toadilah was
called “ Khuai.” He told me that from all this
country as far as Moroh the whole of the gutta is taken
to Menkabong. I t thus escapes the Company’s
customs. This jungle is full of gutta, and I think a
considerable trade goes on, as I saw two Dusun parties,
one of fifteen and one of twenty men, going to the coast
with their baskets full. A tree was pointed out to me
which would yield twelve catties, without killing it.
I paused at “ Toadilah ” twenty-four hours, as
Degadong’s brother wanted to go a day’s journey and
fetch a stone for me to see, which he had obtained
from Silam Hills, Orang Kaya Degadong took his
leave, with many protestations of friendship. He told
me that his only troubles were with the people of Lobn,
with whom he was in feud.
Ma/rch 31 si. To-day some men came in from collecting
upas juice. I asked how it was obtained, and
they said they make a long bamboo spear, and, tying
a rattan to one end, throw it at the soft bark of the
upas-tree, then, pulling it out by means of the rattan,
a little of the black juice will have collected in the
bamboo, and the experiment is repeated until sufficient
is collected. I cannot tell what truth there is in this
story, but the people had no reason for deceiving me.
The Dusuns at “ Toadilah” all wear brass collars,
bracelets, and anklets, a black piece of cloth round the
head, kept on by a band of red rattans. The women
wear a short sarong of native cloth, which is fixed on
tightly at the upper part by brass wire. They also
wear collars and anklets of brass wire.
Early in the morning Degadong’s brother came back,
bringing with him a capital specimen of sulphide of
antimony, weighing, I should think, about fifty grms.
He said that he got it in a river in the country at the
“ b a ck ’’ of Silam. I t was three and a half days to
there from Toadilah; thus it would be eight days
before we got back. My provisions were running low,
and I had, I could not tell how long a journey before
me. On thinking it over I gave up going after the
antimony at present, but its search, shall be prosecuted
from Kinoram at a future day. I tried to get Degadong
to part with his specimen, but he would not, although
he offered to go with me to find more whenever Hiked.
We left Toadilah and proceeded on our journey,
following a high ridge of hills in a S.S.W. direction.
The whole way lay through vast primeval forests, in
which I noticed many tree-ferns twenty and more feet
high. The general character of the forest was almost
Australian, judging from the solitude and unbroken
silence which reign in the depths of these trackless
woods. The only sounds come from insects. Parrots,
monkeys, wild cats, bears, deer, and other usual deni