The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

LIFE IN THE JUNGLE 149
peoples. Our few descriptions will serve to
illustrate the ingenuity displayed, the
complexity of the mechanical principles
involved in some of them, and the extreme
simplicity of others. Previous
writers have described many of these in
detail, and we content ourselves with re-
ferring the curious reader to their ac-
counts.^
The Klemantans and some of the
Kenyahs catch a small ground pigeon
(Chalcophaps indica) in large numbers by
the aid of a pipe or whistle, by blowing
softly on which the cooing notes of the
bird are closely imitated. The instrument
consists of a piece of large bamboo
closed at one end and having a small hole
about its middle (Fig. 25). The hunter,
concealed behind a screen of leafy branches,
blows across this hole through a long
slender tube of bamboo ; and when a bird
approaches the whistle, he slips over its
head a fine noose attached to the end of
a light bamboo and, drawing it behind
the screen, puts it alive into a cage.
Small parrots are sometimes caught
with bird-lime, made with the juice of a
rubber-tree.
The Gathering of Jungle
Produce
The principal natural products
gathered by the people
^ A good account, taken mainly from /^ FiG. 25.
Skertchly, of many traps may be found in Mr.
Ling Roth's well-known work. The Natives of
Sarawak and British North Borneo, London, 1896 ;
work on Fowling.
and also in McPherson's