The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

154 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
The fluid becomes of a bright crimson colour ; this,
boiled down till it has the consistency of beeswax,
is known as dragon's blood, and is used by the
people as a colouring matter and also exported
for the same purpose.
Honey and beeswax are found in nests which
are suspended by the wild bee from high branches
of the mingris {Coompassid) and tapang {Arbouria)
trees, sometimes many nests on one tree. To reach
the nest the men climb the tree by the aid of a
ladder somewhat in the fashion of a steeple-jack.
A large number of sharpened pegs of ironwood are
driven into the softer outer layers of the stem in
a vertical row about two feet apart, and bamboos
are lashed in a single vertical row to the pegs and
to one another and to the lower branches. The
ladder is built up until at some sixty or eighty feet
from the ground it reaches a branch bearing a nest.
The taking of the nests is usually accomplished
after nightfall. A man ascends the ladder carrying
in one hand a burning torch of bark, which gives
off a pungent smoke, and on his back a large hollow
cone of bark. Straddling out along the bough, he
hangs his cone of bark beneath the nest, smokes
out the bees, and cuts away the nest from the
bough with his sword, so that it falls into the cone
of bark. Then, choosing a piece of comb containing
grubs, he munches it with gusto, describing from
his position of advantage to his envious friends the
delicious quality of the grubs. After thus gathering
two or three nests he lets down the cone with a
cord to his eagerly expectant comrades, who then
feast upon the remaining grubs and squeeze out
the honey into jars. The tree having been cleared
of nests in this way, the wax is melted in an iron
pot and moulded in balls. The honey is eaten
in the houses ; the wax is sold to the Chinese
traders at about a shilling a pound.