Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra13141884roya).pdf/293

 surroundings of tall cocoa-nut and spreading sago palms, while dotted over the plain, the numerous wooded knolls rise like islands amid a sea of green. It is a smiling landscape. abounding in soft beauty, and backed by a range of noble mountains, with the father of them all—the towering Kina. Balu—rearing his lofty mass on the northern horizon. Indeed, for general evidences of prosperity, plenty and industry, and of well applied principles of cultivation carried out on a most exhaustive and extensive scale, the Putatan district may be fairly said to be unequalled in the whole of North Borneo. The formation of the lowlands and foot-hills is sandstone of recent formation.

The Putatan does not apparently drain any of the Kina Balu water-shed, although the river, which, as before stated, goes by the name of the Pagunan above the confluence of the Putatan river so called, can, I was informed, be ascended for fifteen days. The Orang Tagâs, a hill Dusun people, who wear the chawât, or bark loin-cloth, and who are found at the head-waters of all the rivers in N.W. Borneo, from the Tawaran to the Kimânis, inhabit the upper portion of the river down to its debouchure from the main coast range.

I noticed a curious musical instrument, a species of guitar, called by the Dusuns lonkoonong. This is made of a piece of large bamboo about $2 1⁄2$ feet long and has 6 strings which are formed by the detaching and raising thin strips of the bamboo sheath. These are tightened at will by pushing a piece of wood along underneath each towards its point of junction with the bamboo.

Their customs are much the same as those of the bulk of the Dusun race. An intending bridegroom has to pay a marriage portion for his bride. When a father dies, his lands and property go to his sons, the eldest getting the largest share. The widow has no share, but has a right to the usufruct of the estate during her life, and the daughters have a claim for support upon the estate until marriage. At his death, a Dusun, if a poor man, is buried in the ground, a small house being erected over his grave, from and above which various coloured calico streamers are dependent. If a rich man, his body is buried in a valuable old jar. The value of some of