CHAPTER IX.

A VOYAGE TO SULU.

Sulu Archipelago-Long drought-Jungle fires-Sandakan-Good water supply-Insects and birds-How an alligator was utilised-A boat excursion-Visit to the shore-A Chinese trader-Chinese hospitality -Slavery-A walk by the river-Manilla hemp-Native tombsFrangipane-or the "dead man's flower"- Rough walkingInteresting birds.

AFTER having spent some time on the north-west coast of Borneo, varied by collecting expeditions further in the interior of the Murut and Dusun countries, I took a passage on the small trading steamer Far East, bound for Sandakan and the Sulu Archipelago. An intelligent young Scotchman, Mr. W. C. Cowie, part owner and engineer, was on board, and enlivened the voyage with a fund of information relating to the habits, customs, and trade of the natives among whom we were going. We were accompanied by his brother, who was going to reside in Sulu for trading purposes, and several Chinese and Malay traders also had taken deck passages. We sailed about 7 A.M. on April 5th, and the weather being fine we obtained capital views of the Bornean coast as we steamed along.

This was the greatest season of drought which had been known here for some time, nearly five months without rain, and this under a tropical sun, and in several places we could see jungle fires raging along the coast.

The monsoon was dead against us, and we met numerous native boats flying down to Labuan before the wind. These were laden with pearl-shell, trepang, etc., and were mostly from the islands of Balabac and Palawan; some, however, had come round from the north-east coast of Borneo, and even from the Sulu isles. In about a fortnight the monsoon is expected to change, when they will find no difficulty in returning safely. At sunset, and again at sunrise, we saw "Kina Balu " towering up into the clouds, and apparently very near to the coast, but the distance is very deceptive. It was dark when we entered Sandakan Bay, and about three o'clock on the morning of the 8th, I was awakened by the rattling of the anchorchains, and found we were at Sandakan itself. It is merely a small trading station consisting of about a dozen ataps," or palm thatched houses built over the water, and a long "jimbatan," or jetty, also on piles, serves as a roadway and a landing stage for produce.

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At the time of my visit the only European residents were Mr. W. B. Pryer, who acted as agent and resident for the company, who had just obtained cessions of territory from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu respectively, and Mr. Martin, a trader. There was formerly a depôt here belonging to the "Labuan Trading Company," managed by a Mr. Sachze, who died rather suddenly, as is believed by poison administered by his wife, a beautiful native woman given to intrigue. We landed at daybreak, and Mr. Cowie and myself took our guns and went for a walk in the forest behind the little group of houses. We followed a path which had been recently cut, and which led us in a northerly direction for about half a mile until we came to a stream descending the steep hill side in a series of little falls. Pigeons were plentiful here, but the trees were too high to allow of our shooting them. We also

CH. IX.]

Sandakan.

185

disturbed a colony of large red monkeys, who were breakfasting on a tall fig-tree in fruit. We clambered up the hill-side and walked along the ridge for some distance. The surface vegetation was very meagre, only a few ferns being obtained, all of which I had seen before, with the exception of a bipinnate form of Blechnum orientalis, having fronds five feet in length.

We retraced our steps along the ridge and descended near the houses, following for some distance the little stream which supplies beautifully clear and cool water to the houses, and ships which call in here occasionally. This stream falls over the sandstone rocks about a hundred yards from the houses, to which it is conveyed by a large bamboo aqueduct. Quite near to the rocks a neat little bath house has been erected, and through the upper part of this structure the bamboo water-pipe is carried, and by blocking it up with a plug a delicious shower-bath is obtainable. We sent for our towels and clean clothes from the ship, and enjoyed our morning ablutions very much. The noble Dipteris Horsfieldii was luxuriant on the rocks here, and a fine scarlet ixora was a perfect mass of bloom. While searching for plants on the wet rocks near the bath-house, I was startled by a snake popping its head out of a bunch of herbage just level with my face! I struck at it with a stick I had in my hand, but it made its escape apparently unhurt, and perhaps more frightened than I was, although I entertain a horror of these creatures. Returning to the ship I shot a fine fish hawk as it flew overhead on its way to the forest. After breakfast we paid Mr. Pryer a visit, and enjoyed looking over splendid collections of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera which he had made here. Some of the butterflies and beetles were especially fine, and several were supposed to be new to science. He had also a small collection of bird skins

made here, but I noted nothing among them different to those of the north-west coast.

When Mr. Pryer first came to live here the natives had annoyed him a good deal by coming below the house at night and stealing rice. This they did by making a hole through the bags with a spear, so that the rice ran through the interstices of the lath floor, and was caught in a vessel held below for that purpose. One day, however, a tolerably large and healthy alligator was brought in for sale, and with the eye of a naturalist, Mr. Pryer at once saw his chance. The ugly creature was purchased and confined beneath the house, and it is needless to add that the nocturnal pilfering in that direction was immediately discontinued. Alligators of enormous dimensions are said to be very common here, but we had to be satisfied with a glimpse of a shark in the bay. Elephants are said to come down to the banks of the Sagaliad river, and a young rhinoceros was actually shot there a few months only after the time of our visit. Having borrowed a boat and obtained a native crew we landed on two of the islands in the bay, and found them equally barren. The only plants of interest we noticed were one or two palms, which I had not seen elsewhere, and these I obtained a large quantity of seeds. plenty of curlew, and large flocks of milk white cranes or "padi birds," rested on the trees near the shore. It was nearly dusk when we returned to the ship, and being wet and dirty, as one almost invariably is on exploring tours in the forest and jungle, we were glad to visit the little bath-house once more, and change our clothes before dinner on the cool upper deck of the little steamer.

species of

of one of

We saw

At daybreak I was awoke by the rattling of the chains as the anchor was weighed, and in a few minutes afterwards Sandakan was behind us as we steamed away to

CH. IX.]

The Sulu Islands.

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the Sulu Archipelago. We reached Meimbong on the evening of the 10th, and anchored just off the traders' houses, which, as is usual here, are built on piles far enough out from the shore for vessels to anchor at the little jetty before the doors. Sulu is about thirty-six hours steaming from Sandakan, but in this case we were longer. We reached the islands at the entrance to the harbour of Meimbong just at sundown, and were much impressed by the indications of cultivation and fertility which they presented. We could also see the cultivated patches and the fruit groves on the Sulu hills quite plainly, while the cool fresh evening air was deliciously perfumed, with what we afterwards found to be a mint-like plant (Hyptis suaveolens), very common throughout the island, especially in waste places and cornfields.

After dinner we went ashore to see an old Chinaman named "Peah," one of the principal traders in the place. His house was half house and half warehouse, consisting of a large front room the entire length of the house with some private apartments behind, the kitchen, as is usual, being a separate structure at the end of the dwelling. Half the large front room consisted of a raised platform about four feet in height, carpeted with finely-worked pandan mats, and covered with a fancy chintz canopy, fringed in front. Cushions were piled up on the particoloured mats, and between these and the partition behind fancy coloured boxes were piled ostentatiously, each secured by a brass lock of Chinese manufacture. On entering we found "Peah" sitting on the platform talking to some Sulu traders, his wife, a neat little Chinese woman, and about a dozen slaves and attendants, mostly Sulu girls. The room was but dimly illuminated with cocoa nut oil lamps, but a couple of composite candles