The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

6 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
covered with a dense forest. On the summits this
consists of comparatively stunted trees, of which
every part is thickly coated with moss. In all
other parts the forest consists of great trees rising
to a height of 150 feet, and even 200 feet, and of
a dense undergrowth of younger and smaller trees,
and of a great variety of creepers, palms, and
ferns. Trees of many species (nearly 500) yield
excellent timber, ranging from the hardest ironwood
or biliauy and other hard woods (many of
them so close-grained that they will not float in
water), to soft, easily worked kinds. A considerable
number bear edible fruits, notably the mango (from
which the island derives its Malay name, Pulu
Klemantari), the durian, mangosteen, rambutan,
jack fruit, trap, lansat, banana of many varieties,
both wild and cultivated, and numerous sour less
nutritious kinds. Wild sago is abundant in some
localities. Various palms supply in their unfolding
leaves a cabbage-like edible. Among edible roots
the caladium is the chief Rubber is obtained as
gutta-percha from trees
the sap of a wild creeper ;
of several varieties ; camphor from pockets in the
stem of the camphor tree {Dryobalanops aromatica).
But of all the jungle plants those which play the
most important parts in the life of the people are
the many species of the
without them more than
rattan and the bamboo ;
half the crafts and most
of the more important material possessions of the
natives would be impossible, and their lives would
perhaps nearly conform to the conventional notion
of savage existence as ' something nasty, dull, and
brutish.' The jungle of Borneo is, of course,
famous for its wealth of orchids, and can claim
the distinction of producing the largest flower of
the world {Rafflesia)^ and many beautiful varieties
of the pitcher plant.
The forests of Borneo harbour more than 450