Scenes from the past: Bombed out homes during the war in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu). – Pic: Australian War Memorial / pic for illustration only.
2ND NOVEMBER 1938
A wild pig hunt took place at Membakut on the 4th October. The drive started from the railway line between Sungei Damit and the Bangawan river and ended up on the seashore between the Bangawan and Membakut rivers.
About 1,500 natives turned out. Some idea of the number may be gathered from the fact that orders were first given for each man to stand opposite one length of rail (30 ft.), but it was soon discovered that this would result in almost as many men being left over.
Each man was then given a space of five sleepers. The distance between the above mentioned points is early four miles.
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All were armed with spears, some with barbed blades, others with detachable blades fastened to a length of rope.
The latter are usually used for harpooning fish. The start was witnessed by Mr R.B. Lutter of Mawao and the District Officer, who then repaired to the beach armed with rifle and revolver respectively, fully expecting to have to fight off hordes of wounded and infuriated animals, all standing at least 4 ft. high.
The hunt was a roaring success except for the fact that no pigs, tame or otherwise, were seen.
The area covered amounted to about 12 square miles.
Credit is due to Pangiran Serudin of Bongawan, who had his men all ready and equally spaced along some 2 1/2 miles of track by the time the District Officer arrived at 7 a.m. and to Mr Calacala, District Agricultural Assistant, and the Membakut Chief for organising matters the home end.
Apart from the absence of pigs. there were a few amusing sidelines to this hunt.
In the first place, the date, the hour, and the place, were chosen, more or less, on the advice of several “oldest inhabitants”, who claimed to be able to specify with unnerving accuracy, the date pig migrated from the hills to the plains in search of newly planted padi and other conveniently placed manna, which reminds us once again of the known danger attached to navigating a Borneo river with someone “born on the river” as pilot.
Secondly, a certain amount of unwillingness to participate was traced to a rumour that when the hunters finally arrived on the beach, they would he met by the Resident, who would pick out all the able bodied men present, load them into a launch and take them out to a warship standing by in which they would be taken away to a war.
Questioned as to which war, some replied that they were not quite sure as so many seemed to be going on at the moment.
Mempakul and Sipitang
Our visitors during the month were, first, the Adjutant who carried out inspections of the Sipitang and Mempakul Contingents.
He arrived in Sipitang on the 2nd September and left for Mempakul on the 4th, leaving there for Jesselton on the 6th. Secondly the Commissioner of Customs & Excise, accompanied by the Acting District Officer, Beaufort, who arrived in Sipitang on the 16th September.
They proceeded to Mempakul on the 19th, and left us for Beaufort on the 21st.
We chose September for a trip from Sipitang to Tenom via Bole and Kemabong because we were under the impression it was a dry month.
Instead it was very wet until we got to Kemabong, and after our experience we envy no one climbing the Crocker Range during a heavy storm.
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Or sliding down the other side after it. Apart from such minor inconveniences the trip was veryenjoy able, particularly as we had the opportunity of seeing more country that was new to us.
The Bole kampongs were suffering from hardship over lack of padi.
The last crops were poor, and now they have to get it by making periodical trips to Tomani.
The Tomani people appear to be making a good thing out of it while the Bole reserves of tajaus are being depleted.
At a camp on the banks of the Ketunun river your correspondent was sitting down reading, feet up on a bongon, at about 7.30 p.m. when he noticed a colony of some fifty semut api on the sleeve of his blazer.
Springing to his feet to brush them off he found he had stepped bare foot into about five thousand. If anyone wants to know if it hurts, it does.
Lastly, we heard the following story which explains (a) why Tagals are poor and Chinese are rich, and (b) why B.N.B. has so many hills and rivers.
Once upon a time seven Tagals, all brothers, were making a journey when they came across an enormous tree.
But it wasn’t an ordinary tree for instead of leaves it was covered in cloths of silk and fine linen, all threaded with gold, and in place of fruit were great gongs.
With the usual improvidence of Tagals they decided to cut it down rather than take what they wanted and leave it to grow still more, and so they set to work.
After sometime the youngest brother suggested they slept and waited till morning to complete the job, but the others disagreed. So the youngest hither went to sleep by himself.
After many hours work the cutting was completed and the tree fell with a mighty crash unfortunately killing the sleeper in its fall.
The six who were left loaded themselves with cloth and gongs and journeyed to the coast to sell them to the Chinese traders.
But they had no appreciation of values, and instead of taking money, they were far more attracted by giring giring – the sort of small bell which is fixed to a child’s harness.
Needless to say the Chinese did not look a gift horse in the month and distributed large number of these bells in exchange for the gongs and cloth.
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And that explains why Chinese are rich.
Well satisfied with their bargain the six brothers went back to their kampong where they spent their time flinging these bells enormous distances.
Now in those days Borneo was flat, and there was none of the hills which form so much of our landscape today.
But these six Tagals must have been no common men for they flung their little bells for miles at a throw.
Naturally they were difficult to find and in looking for them they dug with their hands great holes and valleys, which explains why to-day we have our hills and rivers.
Now it happened that sometime a bell would fall in one of the fast flowing rocky streams which they had created, and in looking for these they picked out all the rocks and boulders.
So that, in turn, explains why some rivers are smooth flowing and rockless.
Well, one day they were playing with their bells, when they threw one from the Ketunun River, which is between Bole and Tomani, to the Tagul River which is about 12 miles west of Pensiangan.
They went off to look for it, but they made such a noise throwing rocks about in their search that a man named Kalawan Kalala, who lived in a neighbouring kampong, could not sleep.
He got angrier and angrier until he could not stand it no longer, and then he got up and went off with his blowpipe to teach them a lesson.
This he did by killing one of the brothers with a blowpipe dart.
Filled with sorrow the five who remained made their brother’s coffin.
When it was completed they bore it with them to the side of a hill named Linungan at the Kuala Sungei Nagas and there it can be seen to this day as a monument to their exploits.