Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra13141884roya).pdf/294

 these old jars is very great, amounting in some instances to hundreds of dollars, and the expenses of the funeral obsequies of an opulent Dusun chief often amount to over $600, buffaloes being killed and eaten, tuak consumed in large quantities, obat (fetish ceremonies) performed, etc.

Although the Putatan cannot properly be described as a sago river, its delta would afford a large area of land suitable for planting the sago palm, the land being low-lying and swampy, and abutting on a good water-way on either side. The highlands of the interior are easily accessible up its valley, the climate is salubrious and pleasant, the population large and well-disposed, but the lands along its banks are firmly held and highly valued, and it is doubtful whether any area of such land could ever be brought into the market.

The course of the main Putatan, or Telîpuk, to the sea, from the point at which the Patâgas branch diverges from it, is somewhat tortuous but has a good depth of water. Its mouth, however, as already stated, is shoal and difficult of entry. An examination of an outcrop of the strata on its right bank, on the way down, shewed the strike to be S.E. with a dip of about 80°. A mangrove growth extends up both banks for a short distance from the kuala, and also along the coast on either side, and there is no beach available for landing on. This is not the case with the Patâgas mouth which has a sandy beach and true jungle close to the sea with however mangroves inside.

As regards the state of cultivation of the tract watered by it, the Putatan may be fairly classed as the show river of North Borneo.

S. ELPHINSTONE DALRYMPLE.