North Borneo: Nabalu ,or [peng-alu-an], the Dusun afterworld

In the past, the Dusuns, as do some of the tribes and people in North Borneo , believe that the souls of the dead ascend a mountain , and , as Kinabalu ,or better ,Nabalu, towers up the height of about 13,500ft, dominating the whole Tempassuk District and indeed ,the country many miles beyond it ,what could be more natural than for them to choose this magnificent mountain for the resort of departed souls ? They believe however ,that the ghost of the dead may linger near their former homes before undertaking their journey , for, in the lowland villages of Tempassuk [Kota Belud] ,when a death has occurred,the old women weep and cry aloud to the spirit of the deceased ,since they are afraid that if the ghost were to loiter near the village it would do the survivors some mischief. With an object of preventing the soul's return , the bamboo bier on which the corpse has been carried is sometimes cut to pieces at the grave side , while that in some lowland villages mourners on returning from a funeral slash with their chopping knives at the step of the house and the door of the room in which a death has occurred.
Since Nabalu is the home of the dead, a ceremony has to be performed ,and offerings made, before its ascent can be undertaken by human beings. In addition ,those who climb the mountain must not use its ordinary name while on it, but must refer to it as 'agayoh ngaran' ,which means 'big name'.
Whilst in the interior part of the Kinabatangan [William B Pryer ,1898] ,the most objectionable custom practiced by the dusuns was that of human sacrifice or "surmungup" as they called it ; the ostensible reason seems to have been to send messages to dead relatives , and to this end they used to get a slave ,usually one bought for the purpose , tie him up and bind him round with cloths,and then after some preliminary dance and singing , one after another they would stick a spear a little way -an inch or so- into his body , each one sending a message to his deceased relatives/friends as he did so. There was even more difficulty in getting them to abandon this custom than there was to leave head hunting. Down in the south-east of North Borneo ,the Tidong way of managing "surmungup" is for a lot of them to subscribe till the price of a slave is raised , he is then bought , tied up , and all the subscribers grasping simultaneously a long spear , it is thrust through him at once. Another custom worth mentioning were of the Tunbunwhas ,that was embalming of the dead. ; this is done with the valuable Borneo camphor ,abundant in the woods in their neighborhood ,more particularly on the Kinabatangan; the coffins are hewn out of a solid piece of 'billian'.

[ The Kwijau or Kuijau are an indigenous ethnic group residing in the Interior Division of North Borneo , to the west and north of Keningau.
- A Kwijau grave at Apin Apin , courtesy of the National Archive , U,K.]