The Ida’an use a species of sledge made of bamboos, and drawn by buffaloes to take their heavy goods to market. The gardens on the Tawaran are well kept and very neatly fenced in. On the hills the plough is not used, the land being too steep; and there the agriculture presents nothing remarkable, beyond the great care displayed in keeping the crops free from weeds. The tobacco is well attended to, and these districts supply the whole coast, none being imported from abroad. When carefully cured, the flavour is considered as good, and the cultivation might be easily extended. Of the cotton I can say little, as I did not find that any of the tribes through whose country we passed cultivated it, though they assured me they purchased their supplies from the villages near the lake. The Tuhan and Inserban districts produce it, they said, in considerable quantities; and I observed the women, in several places, spinning yarn from the cotton. The Bajus obtain their supplies from a tribe near Maludu Bay. Among the hills the implements of agriculture consist of simply a parang chopper and a biliong, or native axe, and the ground is, therefore, no more turned up than what can be effected by a pointed stick; in fact, the steepness of the valley sides is against a very improved rice cultivation; it is better adapted for coffee. Mr. Low, who has much experience, pronounces the soil, a rich orange-coloured loam, to be superior to that of Ceylon, and, Kina Balu being but twenty-five miles from the sea-coast, there are great advantages there. The plains are alluvial and very fertile. With regard to the amount of population, all estimates would be mere guess work; but it must be considerable, as little old forest remains, except at the summits of lofty hills; the rest being either under cultivation or lying fallow with brushwood upon it. The tribes on the Tampasuk estimated their own numbers at five thousand fighting-men; the Tawaran tribes were equally numerous; but reducing that estimate, and putting together the various information received, I should be disposed to place the entire population of these districts at above forty thousand people. This is under rather than over the amount. The five thousand fighting men who are stated by the Ida’an to live in the Tampasuk are, they say, thus divided:-- The Piasau Ida’an 500 Ginambur 1,000 Bungol 1,000 Koung 500 Kiau 2,000 ----- Total 5,000