Dusun boats on the Segama River, North Borneo
F. H. Fitch’s short note describes the construction and use of the alud, a Dusun dug-out boat on the Segama River in North Borneo, with particular attention to its integral seat and the temporary bark superstructure fitted before descending rapids.
Summary
The note documents the konkod, a permanent seat carved as an integral part of the dug-out hull at roughly three-foot intervals, with bamboo slats and split rattan lashed across the carved supports (p. 211). The slots at the back of each support serve multiple purposes: lashing down cargo, accepting upright saplings for a temporary kajang sun-roof, and providing sockets for the sapling framework used to raise the freeboard.
Fitch then gives a detailed account of fitting the tambir (Dusun) or dinding (Malay)—a bark superstructure lashed to a sapling framework (gagalang) before shooting the severe upper Segama rapids. The bark is taken from majau or lampong trees, identified by H. G. Keith as Shorea leptoclados, Pentace sp., Pterospermum spp., or possibly Dryobalanops sp. (p. 211). The lower edges are pegged with melindok wood or bamboo, the joins caulked with tadok (twisted green bark from litak sticks), and the overlapping strips at bows and stern carved into a decorative warong shape. Fitch notes the practice is widespread on East Coast rivers and Kinabatangan tributaries, with material quality varying from bark to palm leaves, and on the Sembakong River the tambir are made of soft wood as a more permanent feature (p. 212).