On Northern Borneo Author(s): C. de Crespigny Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1871 - 1872), pp. 171-183 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1799202 Accessed: 27-06-2016 03:50 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 03:50:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Jan. 22, 1872.] NORTHERN BORNEO. 171

eastern heel of Kilima Njaro, we obtained a good view of it, and as we con? tinued our way downhill, we were favoured now and then with a peep at the objeet of our search. From the break in the western corner of the ridge, I fancied I was going to walk to the water's edge at once ; but what was my surprise to find, on making this point, an abrupt fall of some 150 feet. The ridge rose on my right to perhaps 300 feet, then falling considerably towards the south, it continued its course towards the east, north, and west, till it reached the spot upon which I stood, and nowhere falling lower than it did at this place. It forms a complete circle on the inside, dropping abruptly into the water; but on the outside sliding down first steeply, and then gradually to the level of the plain. " The water lay below as blue as the sea. It is a beautiful sheet of water, though not large; perhaps not being more than two miles in its furthest reach. After a little time, we found a path by which with some difficulty we found our way down to the bottom. It looked like the crater of an extinet volcano. The whiteness of the stones at the bottom suggested an incrustation of salt or some other mineral. I expected to find the water salt, so as to be undrinkable, but I drank, when lo! I never tasted water sweeter or more palatable. It was as soft as rain water, but without its taste. Chala is, I believe, altogether unknown to geography." The Pbesident said when Messrs. Kebmann and Krapf first spoke of a snow-capped mountain in Equatorial Africa, the intelligence was received with almost entire incredulity. By degrees, however, it dawned upon geo? graphers that such a thing might be possible. More recently Von der Decken, the Hanoverian traveller, ascended the mountain to a certain height, and satisfied himself that the summit really was covered with snow, but he did not actually reach the snow. To Mr. New belonged the honour of being the first to reach the snow-line, and he showed his merit as an observer by his description of the different zones of vegetation in ascending the mountain. Mr. J. Ball said the arrival of the plants collected by Mr. New was awaited with the utmost interest, for it is probable they would throw light on the Geographical Distribution of Plants. The characteristic of the higher moun? tains of Northern Africa was their sterility and the poverty of their flora. This was illustrated both in Abyssinia and Morocco. No true Alpine plants were found in the Great Atlas, and none in Abyssinia. In the higher region of the Atlas the vegetation consisted mainly of dwarf stunted shrubs. The common gooseberry only attaiued a height of 1^ inch, and there was a species of cherry that rose no more than 3 inches above the soil. It was very possible that the region just below the highest on Kilima Njaro might prove extremely interesting, because the climate was entirely different from that of Abyssinia, so far as was known.

On Northern Borneo. By Lieutenant C. de Crespigny, n.ix., f.r.g.s,

Sarawak, September, 1871. I have again been wandering in the northern part of Borneo, and the following remarks on portions of it may perhaps prove interesting. I was oh this last occasion principally among the Muruts of the Biver Padass, where I went last year to hunt niias- (ourang-outang), and as very little has been yet said about this river and its people, I venture to hope my notes will be acceptable.

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The Padass has its source in Kinibalu, and runs through a great plain on the eastern side of the range of hills from which flow the Menggatal, Inanam, Sambulan, Putatan, Kinarut, Kawang, Pan- galat, Benoni, Kimanis, and Membakut rivers; and it may be here mentioned that the Eiver Papar, between Pangalat and Benoni, also has its source in Kinibalu, and running at first on the eastern side of that range, finds its way to the sea through a gorge or break in the chain. The Padass there, as it appears, runs south-west from its source, having on its right the Papar, and on its left the Banjermassin, and afterwards between it and that river, the Trusan, the Limbang, the Tutong, and the Rejang, and then again between it and Trusan the mountain stream Palmanlawas. I was not aware, until I arrived in this part of Borneo, that the Rejang extended so far, but at Government House I met a Rejang Dyak chief named Jeetee, who informed me that some years ago he had ascended one branch of the Rejang, until he got past Brunei, and among the Muruts. Supposing Jeetee's statement correct, and I see no reason for doubting it, I should be disposed to call this branch the main river, from the general direction of all the streams on the north-west coast. The Padass then, soon after leaving its source, courses through a plain, the general features of which are relieved by low hills and undulating ground. The country is cailed Tabuhan, and the people Aggis, whom I take to be Dusuns, but I met none of them. They are said to be very fair, and both sexes to have long hair, that of the women reaching to the ground. A short time before I left Labuan to go up the Padass, one Orang Kaya SafTei of Kinarut informed me that a few months previously some people from the eastward visited his river. They were very fair, and had long hair. They had their own language, which the people of Kinarut could not understand, but they could speak Looloo. They brought with them dollars and tobacco, which they exchanged for salt and dry fish. They were accompanied by their wives and children. I suspect that these people were Aggis, and that they came either from the Upper Padass, Banjar, the Great Lake, or Kinibatangan; most probably as their wives and children were with them, from Tadass, but also possibly, as they carried with them about 100 silver dollars, from Kinibatangan. To seaward of the Aggis people live the Paluans. Their proper country is on the banks of a narrow river running parallel with and inland of the Padass, debouching into the great Brunei Bay ; but they have gone past the sources of their own river, and certain communities of them have established themselves between the

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Aggis and the Muruts. However, the Paluans are no other than Muruts, speaking the same language, but with a different accent. To seaward of the Paluans are the Upper Muruts, who occupy the banks of the river until it winds round Mount Jumma. The mountain is between 4000 and 5000 feet high, and is of a very precipitous sandstone formation. The river, at its base, forms a very long and dangerous rapid, so much so that the Upper and Lower Muruts, when they visit each other, prefer to leave their boats above or below the rapid and go over the mountain to meet their friends. Between the Muruts of Padass and the Paluan tribe is a perpetual feud. There was also a feud between the Upper and Lower Muruts at the time of my visit, and communications could only be kept up by means of men who had relatives on each side of Mount Jumma. The Paluans appear to be divided into two sects : those who live in houses and till the soil, and those who lead a wandering life in the forest, following up the fruit-trees as each district brings its particular produce into maturity, like the mias, or like the wan? dering Pakattans of the district from which I now write (Muka in Sarawak). The Upper Muruts speak the same language as the lower ones, with a different accent. To seaward of Mount Jumma are the Lower Muruts, among whom I lived for four or five months. They are a vile race, being thieves and cheats, lazy, and too fond of drink, and extremely dirty, most of them being covered with vermin and ringworm. They live on the most charming part of the river, where it flows, after* leaving Mount Jumma, between ranges of hills of about 1000 feet high, wooded, of course, from base to summit, having here and there little islands and pebble-banks, on which I have passed many pleasant moonlight nights, the mist hanging over the river and half obscuring the scenery, the dashing rippling noise of the water broken by the cries of the Argus pheasant and wonwon, a Murut sleeping on each side of me, a smouldering fire at our feet, the blue smoke from which contended with that from my briar-root. Notwithstanding their vices, I grew to like them to a certain extent, on account of the extreme solicitude which they always showed about my health and safety. The Muruts are a dark race, as compared with the other inland inhabitants of Northern Borneo, and they have some customs peculiar to themselves. Those above Mount Jumma live in long houses like those of the Dyaks and of the Dusuns, whom I formerly visited in the more extreme north. The Muruts below Mount

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Jumma live in small houses, generally too small to be comfortable. It was among these people, and in the middle of their beautiful country, that I spent a few very pleasant months, and I very much regret that want of funds once more prevented me from continuing the exploration of this most interesting country, Northern Borneo. These Muruts are very expert in preparing the upas poison, upon the effects of which many conflicting statements have been made, doubts having been expressed as to its power of killing a man or large animal. Now, I knew a man named Basilow, a Padass Murut, who was sumpited by a Paluan. He received two wounds, one in the calf of the leg, the other in the shoulder. The flesh turned green, not only near the wound, but on the breast on the opposite side; the man was much convulsed, the jaws became rigid, and he died in two hours in a state of coma. (A fearful act of vengeance, which I will presently describe, was made by his tribe.) One of my Muruts sumpited an adult female mias, and she, after having rapidly formed a nest to die in, according to the custom of those animals, continued to groan for about half an hour, when she expired. I must here say that many other mias were sumpited by my Muruts, although contrary to my wish, and got away?whether to die in the forest or to get the better of their wound, I know not. The fact is, that some men have a reputation for their upas, whether it is that they are able to mix the poison with greater skill than others, or whether they obtain it from some particular tree unknown to other people?of a more venomous species, or at a certain stage of its growth, or at a certain season of the year?I could not find out. They, however, had the reputation of having more powerful incantations than others. One thing is certain, that, however potent the poison may be when first mixed, it loses strength after the lapse of a month or six weeks; and it is a mistake to suppose, with some people, that its powers are renewed by the application of lime-juice. It is not generally known that two vegetable juices are used. The first is the juice taken from the bark of the upas-tree, and it will be news to many to hear that there are many varieties of this tree in Borneo. So far as I could observe and learn, they all agree in having pubescent leaves, and fruit of the appearance and size of a large bush-sloe, so common in the hedges at home, the taste, however, being different, the purple skin slightly acrid, the pulp covering the single stone being simply insipid and without taste. The bark of these trees is deeply furrowed, and the tree itself is not excelled in stature by any other of the forest giants, and full-grown will measure 12 feet in girth 5 feet above the earth. The bark is incised, and a small quantity of the liquor exudes?nor, so far as I

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 03:50:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Jan 22, 1872.] NORTHERN BORNEO. 175 could learn and observe, was this the sap of the tree, but an exuda- tion from the bark itself. This juice becomes concrete in the course of an hour or two, and is then rather brittle, and both in appearance and consistency resembles Spanish liquorice, except that it is not quite so dark. I had the curiosity to eat some of it. The taste was intensely bitter, as if it had heen concentrated quinine, and I asked the Muruts if they ever used it as medicine for the fever. They replied in the negative. Since I have been in Sarawak, how? ever, I hear that the Dyaks use the sumpit poison as a febrifuge, but whether it is the juice of the upas-tree, or that called " bima,', which I am about to describe, I am not sure, as my informant could not tell me : I think it must have been the former. I learned from the Muruts that the upas is the true poison, but that it is of little use unless intensified by an admixture of the bima. This is an extract procured by maceration from the roots of of several lowly shrubs, of which I only saw two in the forest, tho appearance of one only of which I now remember. It was not unlike the native palm, but was not thorny. It had small white ?flowers, and a bunch or club of red berries. The root, after being macerated to a pulp, was dried in the sun, when it assumed the eonsistence of the dried upas-juice, but was of a raw sienna colour. I ate a piece of this, and found it to be like the other, of most intense bitterness, with no difference in the flavour. They say the bima is not in itself at all poisonous, but without it the upas would be but of little use. When the poison is required for use, each kind is rubbed down separately with warm water, and mixed in proportion of about two upas to one bima, with much muttering of spells?the heads of the darts then dipped in, and the poison compressed around them. The heads of the sumpits are so made that if the entire head fails to stick in the vvound, at least part of it must do so. The Muruts have curious customs as to the eating of pork. They will all eat the flesh of pigs killed in the chase, or that of any pig which may be found floating down the river, partly consumed perhaps by an alligator; but of pigs home-fed they will not partake,? except only of those which have been bred under their ownioof. Any one knowing the filthy manner in which theso pigs are fed will appreciate the desire on the part of the Muruts to draw a line as regards the consumption of pork. I could not even persuade them to eat a little of my delicious tin-bacon. The Muruts are head-takers, but do not preserve the heads as do the Dyaks; they keep the skulls, or will even divide the skull of an VOL. xvr. N

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enemy into several shares. They take also the finger-nails of their enemies, which they display as trophies outside their houses. In the case above alluded to, where Basilow was killed, the Muruts seized a poor old Paluan woman who had long lived among them, bound her and set her on a bamboo grating over the open grave of the murdered man. Then the brather of the deceased stabbed her, and any one of the bystanders who wished did the same, her blood falling on the corpse. After this her skull was divided among the chiefs; and I saw the principal chief decorate the plot of ground before his house with a part of the skull, having the long hair attached, and the ten finger-nails, five on a pole, as supporters, the pole being decorated with ribbands of the skin of the banana plant. On the Kalias Eiver, near Padass, live a tribe of people cailed Kbijoes. They difier much in their habits from the neighbouring tribes, and more especially in their food, for where, as among the Muruts and Dusuns, a certain line is drawn as to the alimentary pabulum, nothing comes ainiss to a Koijoe?snakes, worms, and beetles are eaten by them as a matter of course. Much has been said from time to time of the Pemans, and how they live in trees, and do not intermarry, but have all things in common: the fact is that they do not live in houses, because they have comfortable caves at the top of a limestone range of mountains uf) the small river Lawas, between Padass and Brunei. They do not cultivate the soil, but they exchange the edible birds'-nests which they find in their district with the Muruts of the country below them, for rice, salt, and sago. A small community of them lived on the Padass, and had built a village and planted pinang and other trees, and were at least as civilised as my Muruts. Towards the sea on the alluvial plain, after leaving the moun? tains, dwell the Bisayas, a very handsome, fair-skinned and viva- cious people. They are Islam on the Padass and Kalias, although not so on the Limbang: concerning which river I sent a paper to the Society many years ago. These Bisayas live in comfortable houses, grow padi, and cultivate the sago-tree, rear cattle and buffaloes in large quantities, live well, and are for the most part free from disease. They wear their hair quite long, contrary to the practice of their neighbours, the Malays and Muruts. This would perhaps give them an effeminate appearance, were it not for their well-knit muscular forms; but, as it is, the long hair seems to be not out of place. The only other " inhabitants " of the Padass district are the mias (ourang-outangs), and these dwell on the right bank of the river

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 03:50:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Jan. 22, 1872.] NORTHERN BORNEO. 177 only, none ever being found on the left. This remark applies also to the won-won (Hylobates), another ape. They range the forests ex- tending along the mountain ranges between the Padass and the Papar. They live in families?the male, female, and a young one. On one occasion I found a family in which were two young ones, one of them much larger than the other, and I took this as a proof that the family tie had existed for at least two seasons. They built com- modious nests in the trees which form their feeding-ground, and so far as I could observe the nests, which are well lined with dry leaves, are only occupied by the female and young, the male passing the night in the fork of the same or another tree in the vicinity. The nests are very numerous all over the forest, for they are not occupied above a few nights, the mias leading a roving life. They feed principally on the wild durian, and the fruit of the gamboge- tree, which is of the same order as the mangostin. They have not the art of constructing a cover to their nests, but in captivity will eagerly avail themselves on a cold day of anything given to them, as a cloak. I have seen young ones just taken from their mothers spread a sheet of newspaper over their shoulders, and hug it together across their brea^st, resisting any effort to depiive them again of it. The mias of Padass are very large, more so I think than the generality of those I met with in the Maludu district years ago. I shot the largest one of which we have any authentic record. He measured 8 feet 10 inches in stretch from finger end to finger end; breadth of face across the callosities 13 inches; height 4 feet 7 inches. By the unworn appearance of his teeth and nails he seemed to be just in his prime, if indeed he had altogether done growing; for, as Wallace's largest measured only 7 feet 9 inches in tbe stretch, and 13^ inches across the face, I am inclined to think that my specimen, being probably younger than Wallace's, would have developed his callosities still further with age. I was surprised, upon dissecting this huge beast, to observe how very small were his organs of generation, not larger in all their parts than those of the human subject of tender years. I sent the skin and skeleton of this mias to Mr. Higgins, of Bloomsbury Street. Much has been said about the link connecting the apes with the genus homo. I have, during all the years I have lived in Borneo, made anxious enquiries as to any variety of man, or mias, which might be regarded as a link, but without arriving at anything satisfactory. The story of the men whose backbones are pro- longed into a short tail I regard now as a fable. I have, however, sometimes seen a native face unmistakeably and ludicrously similar n 2

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 03:50:04 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 178 NORTHERN BORNEO. [Jan. 22, 1872. to that of the mias, and have very often observed among Muruts and Dyaks an extraordinary length of arm, the stretch being in these instances longer by several inches than the height of the individual. It must be evident that were men to be found possessed of a caudal appendage, it would not connect them at all with the mias, which has no tail. On the other side, to meet with men whose arms are out of proportion in regard to length, may be regarded as a step towards the desideratum. I have never met with mias whose intelligence has been fostered and developed by man; but itmay be interesting to mention in this place that a Murut informed me he had formerly had an adult male mias, living with his family, who followed him to the fields or to the forest, and who would help to bring in firewood to thehouse. I have also heard of a mias who was taught to bring fire to his master when desired to do so. In the Life of Apollonius I find that that sage in his travels visited a country where pepper was cultivated by apes. This would be either Borneo or Sumatra, the mias being found in both countries, and pepper having been formerly as extensively cultivated in Borneo as in Sumatra. As the writer of this Life, however, states that in the same country he went to the top of an exceedingly high mountain to confer with some sages who dwelt there, I must claim the honour of this visit for my adopted country, Kinibalu being so much higher than any mountain in Sumatra. I send a rough plan of Padass and the neighbouring rivers,* also some vocabularies of North Bornean languages.

Dr. Brandis said in British Burma there were several species of Antiaris, and the inhabitants of the forests used the juice which exuded from the bark to poison their arrows with, and he had frequently witnessed its effect upon game. Some of the trees attained a height of 260 feet, with a girth of 30 feet. They had often beautiful straight stems, with large, shining, dark- i^reen leaves.

* This sketch-map is deposited in the Society's collection.?Ed.

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