The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-27

our forest beds. We awoke early, and our
| friends, the Dusuns, soon came up. Away we
went in west-southwest direction, the path, as
usual. leading over ridges and hills varying from
| 1000 to 1000 feet Tadjum and Labuk wales
| away in the distance At'2:30 we descended into
/ the Bendowen vale. The place surrounded
| by hills, some rising as high as 1000 feet We
| shortly after arrived ct the banks of the Ben
| dowcn river, a rushing stream about forty yards
broad; in the wet season more than 100. 1t comes
| down from the Bendowen hills, which are about
| three days journey away, if one follows the
| river To-day we have been travelling over a
| cayey country the clays getting harder and
harder, until here at Bendowen the transition
| into slate is complete. The cause of metamor-
phism is also at hand IN the shape of vast masses
of quartz. The slate at Bendowen is excellont,
and an extended search for minerals is advisable
/ all up the river.
AT 1925 sighted Habalu, bearing 1850, and
/ soon after caught sight of the Labuk or Logon,
which We had not seen for so long The coun-
| try is all cleared here, and ancient paddy fields
with long. cutting grass six feet high for miles
| and miles was road In the afternoon we
| arrived at Ghanagana. on the right bank of the
| Labuk. We were wet through, tired and dirty,
and on taking off my boots l found my
socks literally drenched with blood from
! leeches. The leech is the true pest Of
| the traveller in Borneo; but just now | feel the
constant stirring of the people rather oppressive
Wherever go and whatever [ do crowd of
| some eight or ten follow to stare and wonder.
AT Ghanaghana the people received us rather
churlishly. but Durrok. of Niasanne, left US with
| friendly adieus and the gift of a spear. At
Ghanaghana the natives are all in the middle OF
their paddy harvests and men, women and
children busily engaged in storing the rice cut
during the day. At o'clock they all begin
drinking kind Of arrack. They prepare it by
placing cooked rice and water with cocoanut
milk In bamboo. which they then seal up; fer
mentation commences, and in week or so a
| .N,~.& e
ethylc acetate At o'clock the whole house
hold was drunk; men, women and children roll
ing on the floor, laughing and shouting. have
one man who has broken down; he can scarcely
drag himself along; so we are very short handed
only seven in all,
Got but little sleep for the noise and shouting,
which going all night. Ghanaghana
boasts seventy men; women fifty-fve; houses,
twelve; headman, Pindar We had some diff
Guilty In procuring men to carry the things and
all wanted fathom of cloth each and their wages
beforehand. There were strings of human heads
| in all the houses in Ghanaghana. l was not sorry
to cross the Labuk and leave the place. Crossed
the stream, Kinarang, flowing west, and descend
ed from the lakeland Batokan. This tableland is
elevated about 400 feet above the Danao plain.
Leaving it we struck the Labuk river again.
The stream is about forty yards wide and
some two feet deep. In the wet season it al
ways overfows and floods the whole surround
ing district. We followed the Labuk for some
distance, crossing and recrossng several times.
The boulders of phosphyrite granite in the river
are large, and are washed, l expect, from Ma
balu. which from our present position bears
1852. At length we left the Labuk to the South
of US, and followed a tributary, the Todongon,
for some distance, leaving it eventually behind
US, and going up to Tuntoul. The Ghanaghana
men here refused to carry our things any
further. and five out of the nine had al
ready got their wages Ia fathom of red cloth for
whole day., and it was now only 11:5O o'clock.
| told them that if they persisted in deserving
me the other four would get nothing. Finally
had them sent away. and would hear no more
from them. They talked d good deal and loudly,
| but did nothing, and presently disappeared. The
Ghanaghana men nave general bad character.
l noticed that scarcely one of them was untat
toed Their enemies are the Loba Muruts, and
the Menkabong Dusuns and Badjows.
The river adventures which the young ex
explorer met with were many and exciting.
Here is the story of one of them, which we get
from private letter, though the diaries are full
of battles with torrents and cataracts little
known as were the falls on the rivers which
Stanley navigated the early days of the
African exploration:
We arrived at our mems camp from our short
trip at 1890. The place was we'll posted below
bend in the river. at the foot Of hill 1000 feet
high. Potatoes, kaladi, melons. cucumbers were
now plentiful, and my famlshed men got feed
of some thing more than rice, for which they were
very thankful. The country here is very mount
ainous and as the river is restricted by high
banks. the current is tremendous and all the
Dvaks, Sulus. etc. said | was very brave to get
up at all. It was about l1:30 when we started on
again, my prahu leading; little prahu with
Datu Mahmad followed; then came Smith and
| the police: and hastily the mandore and coolies
in large prahu full of things. We had just
passed difficult piece of river when L heard
cry, and looking round saw several heads bob
bling up and down in the rushing river. and a
prahu bottom upwards, foating down the stream
and dashng among the boulders in the distance.
l jumped from my prahu and rushed to the
spot, but before arrived the gobang had gone
out of sight, and most of the men mad got
ashore, some with great difficulty any many
narrow escapes. The missing goods were many,
the severest losses being two bags OF rice, three
guns, six axes some panangs, blankets and all
| the mems little things. The Dumpas
! the Dyaks, dived all day, getting things
out, and we recovered a little. The Dyaks gave
Us no assistance; in fact, they were waiting down
| the river to get stray goods. The Dyaks here
are true head hunters and only few days ago
| a head was taken at bridge over torrent. The
man was walking over the feled tree, which i'll
! this country always constitutes bridge. when
| four men rushed on him, pushed him down the
steep bank. and, jumping down after him, took
| his head off in twnkling l saw the victims
head and hand in house not far from the scene
of the murder The headman said himself that
| three weeks ago seven heads had been taken
| from slaughtered men Of Tingara, with which
| country he, Sogoitan, was fighting. The bodies
of these men were thrown into the wood near u.s.
and all the men said that at night, when the
wind blew from a certain quarter, there was
| fearful smell of dead animal matter. The Dyaks
here all eat monkeys, the skins of which they tie
round their waists, letting the tails hang down
behind. This, no doubt. is the origin of the re-
| ported existence OF men with tails
III.
FRANK HATToN AND HIS MEN
! Mr.. Herbert Ward, young cadet in the
service of the British North Borneo company,
was the Last officer who saw Frank Hatton dur
| ing the expedition which ended with his death
| He has related to me the circumstances of their
meeting and parting, and his narrative will be
printed as a Postscript to the volume on
| North Borneo," which s shortly to be pub
lished. dealing with Frank Hatton's life and
| work:
| Gu ,,on+bc olarsa5 opd WOO Of pa,,oooh =.