REPORT
ON THE PUTATAN SUB-DISTRICT
FOR THE
EIGHT MONTHS ENDED.
31st DECEMBER, 1884.
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO.
Printed by William Jacob Pozario,
GOVERNMENT PRINTER, SANDAKAN,
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO.
1885.
REPORT
ON THE PUTATAN SUB-DISTRICT
FOR THE
Eight Monthts Ended 31st December,
1884.
BY
S. E. DALRYMPLE, ESQUIRE,
ASSISTANT RESIDENT IN CHARGE PROVINCE
KEPPEL.
We have much pleasure in making room
in our columns for the following exhaustive Report on the Putatan District by
Assistant-Resident in-Charge, S. E. Dalrymple which has been placed at our
disposal by the Government.
The Putatan River passed under the
Company's rule on the 1st May, 1884, and was formally taken over, by His
Excellency the Governor, on the 8th of the same month. The spirit shewn by the
native population — both Bajau and Dusun,—was, from the beginning, all that
could be desired in a newly taken-over district, and it may be noted, that
disposition has continued and improved up to the present date.
The lines on
which the administration of this large and populous district was, at the
outset, to be conducted, were set forth by His Excellency the Governor, in a
despatch dated 10th May, 1884, and were, broadly stated, that all native
customs, so far as compatible with civilized usage, were to be respected, the district
treated as a purely native one, and its inhabitants gradually taught how to
govern themselves, the chief aim of the Magistrate in Charge being to gain
personal influence among them and to cause the Company's rule to be loved and
respected.
These lines have been adhered to, and the bare fact of over $900 of
Poll Tax having been collected in a district in which a large number of the
villages were, for some time, subject to external political influences, and
without a Police Constable having been, during the first year, stationed in it,
may be cited us conclusive proof of their success. Before the advent of the
Company's rule, the district was without a " Tamu " or fair, and
imported all its tobacco from the adjacent district of Inanam.
A flourishing
"tamu" now assembles every tenth day at the Dusun village of
Pagansakan, situate a few miles up the Putatan river, at which brisk trading
goes on, cloth, dried fish ( "belis" ), iron bars, salt, &c.,
being bartered for large quantities of manufactured tobacco, brought down from the prolific tobacco
districts lying to the South of Kinabulu.
Geographical
Geographically the district may be
described us a perfectly level, alluvial plain, on a roughly approximate
estimate some forty square miles in superficial oxtout. Its physical boundaries
are—to the North Bukit Malintod and a range of low hills extending thence N. W.
to Tanjong Liadan. (Dusun "Kalat "), and forming the watershed
dividing the Putatan and Inanam systems : to the West the sea: to the South the
Suwaugan river and a spur thrown off from the coast ranges, and to the East the
mountain ranges of the interior, running up to, perhaps some 4,000 feet in
altitude. This broad expanse of plain is however relieved by low hills, here
and there, which may average from 100 to 300 feet in elevation.
The district is
drained by seven streams—(1) The main Putatan river, going, along its upper
course, by the Dusun name of Pagunan ( Dusun " Pagunan, " country ) :
( 2 ) the Putatohn, an affluent of the former, whose debouchure is at the
village of Nohbong : (3) the Kalupis, which discharges into the main river at
the village of Bubahit and drains a. valley of the same name as the former,
lying to the eastward of Bukit Malintod : (4) the Sugud, named at its mouth—at
the village of Rumaia, the Tarikan river, and draining the populous Sugud
valley to the south : ( 5 ) the Permuan discharging into the Putatan close to
its southern mouth, at the village of Ketian—this is however, more a salt-water
creek than a river : and (6) the river Suwangan, a small stream flowing into
the bight of Pituru Bay and forming the frontier between the Putatan and the
adjacent independent district of Kinarut. Besides the above enumerated, the
Putatan plain is intersected by two artificial irrigation canals, names
respectively Pappas Goringsing and Pappas Babkangkong ("Pappas"-
Dusun "ditch," "canal" ).
These take their rise at the villages
from which they are respectively named and discharge into the Pitagas, or
northern branch of the Putatan,—the first-named at, and the second a short
distance below, the Bajau village of Pitagas. The main Putatan river bifurcates
at the Bajau village of Lokbunok, its northern, or Pitagas branch, flowing into
the sea to the south of Tanjong Aru, and its southern, or Telipuk branch, to
the south of Bukit Pandan Pandan.
This latter point, together with that of
Tanjong Aru are locally unknown by the names assigned to them in the Chart,
viz., Dumpil Point and Loutat Point. A silted-up mouth of- the northern branch
lies equal-distant from the two existing mouths and at the north end of a steep
hill abut, ting on the beach, named Bukit Linohuk ( "Corner hill " ).
The Putatan valley only becomes defined as such on ascending to the village of
Bubahit, expanding into an extensive plain below that point. The river is said
to have a long " Ulu " or upper course, and to take its rise among the
highlands constituting the " divides " of the upper Tawaran, Pappar and
Pagallan rivers. It's main axis, on nearing the coast, is from N. E. to S.W.,
with a very serpentine course as it nears the sea. I have the honor to furnish
a sketch survey of the whole District on a scale of 2 inches to the mile,.
Geological
The soil of the district is a clayey loam
of great fertility and of a depth—as evidenced by a well-suction in the heart
of the district, of five to six feet. Below this comes a stratum of fluviatile
clay, super-imposed on a bed of disintegrated-coral sand, which affords internal
evidence of having once formed the bed of a mangrove swamp.
This proves the plain
to have been formed by the same agencies which are at this day at work
connecting the neighbouring island of Gaya with the mainland, viz., the coral
insect ; hastened however, in the case of Putatan, by the super-imposition of
fluviatile sediment. The soil of the low hills studding the plain is a red,
ferruginous clay loam, the bed rook a soft sandstone. Quartz and quartz
crystals are met with up the valley of the Putatan river. Goal, of good
quality, is reported to exist and also copper.
Stream tin lias been washed
formerly by a Chinese at Bantaian to the N. E. of Bukit Malintod, and a good
specimen of galena, found at Gaya, is rumoured to have been originally brought
from some point in Ulu Pagunan. Tin is also asserted to exist in the low hills
lying to the N. E. of Bukit Malintod and between it and the coast.
The
formation of the coast plain forbids the supposition of any minerals existing
in that direction, but, were the coast hills and upper portion of the river
valley well prospected, there would be fair prospects of good results,
especially in the latter direction.
Statistical.
I have the honor to append ( Annexe
1. ) a list of the 47 villages contained in the district, together with number
of houses in each, names of head-men, &c. Taking it at the ratio of four
women, and children of both sexes, to one grown and poll-tax paying male adult,
this would place the total riverain population at about 5,000 6ouls. This
estimate is however probably below the mark, and a future and exact census,
will in all probability, prove the population to be nearer 8,000 than 5,000. The
smallness of my staff in 1884, must be my excuse for there being, as yet, no
accurate Return., the distances to be traversed being considerable.
Agricultural.
The agriculture of the district is in
a very forward state, the staple produce being rice and sago. The area under
rice cultivation is greater than in any other district in North Borneo. Both
Putatan rice and sago enjoy a high reputation locally, the position of Putatan
sago flour in the local market being shewn by the following Table of Rates :
Cents.
1.
*Kawang Sago @
per pikul . . 100
2.
*
Kinarut 100
3.
Putatan 95
4.
Kuala
Lama 80
5.
Papar
75
* Very Small out-put.
The sago plantations are however
capable of great extension, the palm being at present not half as much
cultivated as it might be. They occur principally along the courses of the Garingsing
and Babhakong canals and up some of the lateral valleys notably the Sugud and
Kalupis. Wet rice cultivation is conducted on an elaborate and extensive scale
over thousands of acres of fields, the levels, sluices, &c, being all
carefully arranged and well furnished and the clay banks being neatly wattled
in with bamboo. The distribution of first class Rangoon rice will be a great
boon to the population, as the present stock has, for want of a fresh infusion,
deteriorated in size of grain, Rice lands are firmly hold and highly priced,
descending regularly from father to sons. On a Dusun farmer dying without
leaving direct issue, his nearest of kin, immediately on his decease, erects a
stone or wooden land-mark, indicating his claim to the land.
These are to be
met with all over the country, in some cases being elaborately carved, in
others representing a human effigy, &c. The agricultural implements in
vogue are ( 1 ) single-handled wooden ploughs ( Dusun " radu " ) with
a wooden plough-share tipped with iron, and with no swell in it, the furrow
being turned try a twist of the plough-man's wrist. (2) Harrows, formed of
pieces of bambu fixed parallel to each other, having wooden teeth, made out of
the hard wood of the nebong palm, let into them. A peculiarity of these teeth
is that they slant backwards and not forwards. When using the harrow, the
driver stands on the top of it. (3) Short iron-headed hoes. (4) A species of
decorticator, working inside a circular, upright basket, and revolved by a
wooden armature fixed to the top, to which a long wooden handle is jointed, the
alternate propulsion and retraction of which rotates the machine. The rice, roughly
husked, is discharged into a fiat basket placed at the side. (5)
"Winnowing machines, similar in appearance to our own, but small, having
the ordinary wooden fan inside, worked by a hand crank. (6) Wooden sleighs,
drawn by- a buffalo. (7) A kind of small cart, drawn by a buffalo, the place of
wheels being supplied by four elastic pieces of wood curving backwards, which
also act the part of springs. The former are used during the wet, the latter
during the day, season. For all weight-carrying and draught purposes, the
water-buffalo is solely used, as also for riding purposes. The price ranges
from $10 for a cow, to $20 for bull buffalo.
There is a very large head of them
in the district, and also a fine breed of cattle, cows being priced at from $8
to $1 and bulls from $1 6 to $20. Ponies are few and poor. A large " padi
" trade is carried on with the city of Brunei, but, being carried in
Brunei bottoms, does not bring one half the profit to the district that it
would were the inhabitants enterprising enough to build, or buy, and export in
their own prahus. Immediately after a good harvest " padi " may be
bought at 6 Mandu (=60 gantangs to the dollar.) Putatan sago finds its
principal market in Gaya and Mengkabong. The pepper vine was, in former days,
extensively and successfully cultivated, and some plants are still to be met
with growing in the jungle on the uncultivated hill-slopes. The industry was
however stifled by the impossibity, in those days- and at that part of the
coast, of getting the produce safely to market It is undoubtedly to a revival
of this industry that Putatan must look for its future.
The extensive tracts of
lateritic soil occurring along the slopes of the foot-hills of the Putatan
basin would also seem to indicate that tea culture is one of the possibilities
of the near future, and a trial of the Assam Hybrid ( Amluckie seed ) would be
an experiment fraught with interest. The Chinese also pronounce the soil as
eminently suitable for the cultivation of the ground nut ( hypogea ). The
cocoaunt and areca palm abound and the district produces a great quantity and
variety of fruits. On the lulls rising out of the plain the "kayu
tambinaton" is found.
This is a straight-stemmed tree with a very
close-textured, hard, yellow
wood, in great demand among the Dusuns for making coffins and the piles on
which their houses are raised from the ground. A pile made of this wood will
last 20 years. The tree is carefully preserved and planted by the Dusuns. One
" depa'' ( about 5 feet ) of its trunk is valued at $2, and a "
tambinatonu " coffin costs $1. Poughing is commenced in June and the
"padi" is sown in the "samai" (nurseries) on the hill
elopes, at the end of the same mouth. I regret that, as yet, I do not possess
sufficient data on which to base an accurate estimate of the annual rice
production of the district, which must, however, be very large.
Ethnographical.
There are four ethnical elements in
the population, (1) the Taga-as- (2) the' Dusun : (3) the Bajau and (4) the
Chinese. The habitat of the iirst-uained is the lofty mountain ranges bordering
the coast plain and they are, in all probability descendants of the pristine
aborigines, driven back into the mountain fastnesses, by some wave of conquest
from without—probably Chinese.
The Taga-as cast of feature is wanting in the
Mongolian attributes, his cheek bones are not high, as in • the case of the
Dusuus, and his cranium is narrow and elongated. It may be added that these
Tagi-as tribes hold the whole of the coast range from the Ulu Kimanis, to tbe
South, to Ulu Tawan to the North, The Dusuns form the mass of tbe population of
Putatan.
They cultivate the plain country and are a fine well developed race of
a genial disposition and characterized by habits of thrift and industry, having
a strongly marked idiosyncrasy and being most conservative in their ideas and
tenacious of their national customs. Their physical appearance and the exact
similarity, in dress, burial customs. &c, point to their having a strong
infusion of the Chinese element.
The Bajaus constitute a minor element in the
population. These Johore aliens—though, as Mahomedans, not assimilating with
the Dusun element, are yet unlike the Bajaus of North East Borneo in this respect,
viz :—that they possess cattle, hold and cultivate land and live in fixed
habitations on shore. They are however, in great part, fishermen.
The Chinese
element amounts to between fifty and sixty men, chiefly engaged in the
distilling of rice arrack and not holding land. They have largely inter-married
with the Dusuns and can in many cases hardly be distinguished from the latter,
the "tausang" (pigtail) being the sole index of their belonging to
the former race.
Political.
There is little to be noted under
this head. Certain villages, to which shadowy claims were vaguely rumoured to
be laid by an independent native ruler, after being visited by me, solved the
question by voluntarily paying their Poll Tax to Government, actuated by the
arguments of all their compatriots, strongly urged in favour of the Company's
Government.
Pangeran Kamerajah of Pituree, whom I had recognized as an
independent chieftain, as the result of an interview with him and of
information received, also voluntarily applied to come under the Company's rule
and did so.
The feeling now, among Dusuns and Bajaus alike, is one of complete
confidence in and satisfaction with the existing Government. The Taga-as of the
upper Papar and Putatan hill district of Mantisan, have made a solemn compact
with their former enemies the Putatan Dusuns, to maintain amicable relations
with them, and have, through Gunsanat their chief, exchanged "
basumuka" ( literally'- wash face " ) with the Putatan chief in local
charge of the " tamu. "
These Taga-as now come freely down to trade
and give evidence of being a people easily brought under Government control as
soon as a rough road is made into their district.
Revenue and Expenditure. .
I have the honor to append (Annexe 2)
an Abstract of the Revenue and Expenditure of the district up to the end of
December, 1884. The total Foil Tax collected amounts to $901, a large balance
of which amount was not got in until 1885. A portion of the amounts under the
head of Putatan house and office, on the following page, was similarly paid in 1885.
AH the preliminary building expenses, &c, being now over, the district may
be confidently expected to shew a surplus in 1885, shewing that the accounts
for 1884, after deducting those expenses, shew a small surplus, which no other
district, hitherto taken over by the Company, has done in so short time.
Establishments.
The paid establishment, during 1884,
consisted as follows :—
Magistrate in Charge @ per- mensem. .
. $130
Customs Collector ,, . . 15
Confidential Agent ,, . . 15
Government boatment 5 @ $6 each per mensem
.. . 30
Total $190
Government Property.
The disbursements under this head
amount to some $1,002, distributed as under :—
Putatan Residency Bungalow.
Contract to build. $255
Cost of Site-Buit Hill. 25
Compensation for removals 12
Boat and Coolie hire, &c. . 184.45
Materials. 267.04
Total $743.49
Putatan Office, Clerks and Police
Quarters
Contract to build $90
Boat and Cooloe hire $30.55
Materials $138.87
Total $259.49
The residency bungalow, a commodius
and substantial building, is situated on the summit of Buit Hill and has the
advantage of being above flood and fever level and of commanding extensive view
of the district. The Hill is the property of the Government, by purchase, and possessing
a fine soil is fine suited for planting out as an experimental nursery for the
district. Tlhe Offices are situated at the bifurcation of the Putatan river, at
the Bajau villages of Lok bunoh and Putatan, in a position which commands the
trade outlets of the district and where Chinese traders have already intimated
their intention to build shops.
Crimes and Prisons
No prison exists in the district and
it seemed unadvisable, at the first onset, to introduce into it the regular
machinery of Summonses, Warrants, &c. Only some four or five cases cropped
up during 1884, and these wore chiefly heard and decided in concert with the
native chiefs. The district is remarkable free from crime.
Trade.
I have the honor to append (Annexe 3.)
Abstract of the Imports and Exports of the district for the eight months ending
31st December, 1884, shewing the gross volume of trade, during that period, to
|have amounted to $17,707, made up of Imports $9,098, and Exports $8,609, the
total tonnage cleared, inwards and outwards, during the same period, and amounting
to tons 375. The trade is entirely carried in native boats. These returns prove
that an impulse was given to the trade of the district by it's being taken over
by the Government. Brassware and cloth, among the Imports, and " Padi,
" Tobacco, India-rubber and Sago, among the Exports, form the most
noticeable items. The small excess of $489 in favour of the Imports, during the
eight months, shews the trade to be well balanced. The starting of the
"Tamu" or market, has been of great benefit to the trade of the
river, but the effects will only begin to- be noticeable in the Tobacco Exports
and Imports for 1 885. I have the honor to append (Annexe 4.) a list of the
principal tobacco growing districts in the interior.
Sanitary.
The district—probably owing to the
insanitary conditions brought by the severe drought, has been visited by two
epidemics ; one of dysentery of which some 30 or 40 Dusuns died, and another of
an obscure disease said by the inhabitants to have been previously unknown
among them. A considerable number of people were carried off by this disease,
of which the symptoms were headache, pain down the sides of neck and down the 6ides,
extending to the region of the spleen and liver, sore throat and difficulty of
swallowing, yellow, bilious vomit, constipation, red urine, loss of appetite,
and finally death, unless the disease, by the third day, had taken a favourable
turn. The health of the district, after, this epidemic had passed away,
returned to its normal satisfactory condition.
General.
Looking at it both from a political
and commercial standpoint Putatan has made a satisfactory start under the aegis
of the Company's Government, and may be looked upon as a district that has a
promising outlook before it. The point of interest is the increasing trade with
the Liwan and other tobacco producing districts of the interior, which is being
developed at the "tamu. " This trade is capable of great development,
the production being very great, and I would strongly urge the application of,
even a moderate amount of money, towards the improvement of the existing imperfect
line of communication with, those districts.
The trade would come down steadily,
even during the rainy season, were it not for the danger and loss of life often
incurred in fording the upper Tawaran when in flood. The construction of a
light flying bridge of rattan and bambu,—such as already spans the Tawaran at
Kandassang further inland, would obviate this. -A great impetus to trade would
-be the speedy results ,of this increased facility for inter-communication
between the coast tribes and traders and the large industrial populations of
the districts lying to the S. and S. "W. of Kinabalu.
A rough road of this
kind, would eventually more than pay it's expense of construction, in the
greatly increased trade it would bring. No toll, however light, should be levied
on those using it. One of its results would assuredly be a great development of
the cloth and brassware trade, while another would be the paving of the way for
the future introduction of Copper Currency into the interior.
At present a
great proportion of the trade from the above districts is passing down to the
coast at points which have not as yet come under the Company's rule. Should
such a road be eventually taken in hand and the Pepper-planting industry
revived by Government aid, the effect would make itself felt all along the West
Coast. Finally it may be noted that the attention of Chinese from outside the
district has been attracted to the total absence, in Putatan, of any good shops
to supply the wants of it's large population. This defect they propose to
remedy and the end of another year will no doubt see some half dozen traders
fairly started and this interesting district
advancing steadily in trade and prosperity.
S. E. DALRTMPLE.
Assistant Resident-in-charge Province
Keppel.
Source : Cornell University Library
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