The inhabitants of the districts under the sway of the Company are of many different races. The bulk of the population are Dusuns or Idaán, very much like the better class of the Land Dyaks of Sarawak. They are easily governed, and among them head hunting is a tradition rather than a practice, as only in one village that Sir Hugh Low and I visited did we find a head house, or any skulls hung up to the rafters, as is commonly the case in the communities south of the Baram. We stayed in their villages on several occasions, and formed a very favourable opinion of the people. The above remarks are based upon our observations made in 1858, but, if Mr John Whitehead is not mistaken, these races must have greatly deteriorated, as he writes a good deal about the practice of head hunting among them in 1888. When we were there we heard like reports and met many parties of armed Dusuns, who were said to be on the war-path, but as at the same time we also met numerous parties of Dusun men, women and children carrying tobacco to the coast villages through what was said to be an enemy’s country, we did not pay much attention to such statements. We saw also small parties of women and children working in the fields miles away from their villages, which could not occur if there were any real danger from hostile tribes. Either Mr Whitehead was deceived by similar stories to those which were constantly dinned into our ears, or the Dusuns have sadly deteriorated. These stories of enemies were fabricated chiefly with the object of preventing our visiting neighbouring villages. I am afraid we should find great changes if we returned to Kina Balu, as Mr Whitehead mentions that the Company have found it necessary to send punitive expeditions against these Dusuns. I trust, however, that this is a mistake. The next in importance to the Dusuns from their numbers are the Bajaus, who are still often called Sea Gipsies from their wandering habits, but many thousands of them have abandoned their old custom of living in boats and have settled on the lake-like Mengkabong river and in many other places along the north-west coast, until you reach Tampasuk, where, a few miles inland, they are numerous. The Bajaus are also to be found on the north and east coasts, and are there deemed a very useful class, as fishermen and collectors of sea produce for export to the China market. The Lanuns, of marauding celebrity, lived formerly on the Lower Tampasuk and Padasan rivers, but since their pirate settlements were routed out by Sir Thomas Cochrane in 1846, they have gradually abandoned the coast, and retired to their own country, the great island of Mindanau. Probably a few who have intermarried with the Bajaus may still be left. They were a gallant, courteous people, but too lawless for our times.