THE BAMBOO AND DURIAN OF BOBNEO. 227 



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being made at each end, toles are formed, througli which pegs are 

 dri\^en, and a ladder or staircase is produced with the greatest celerity. 

 It is true that much of this will decay in one or two seasons, hut it Is 

 so quickly replaced, as to make it more economical than using a more 

 durable wood. 



One of the most striking uses to which Bamboo is applied by the 

 Dyaks, is in climbing the loftiest forest-trees, either to gather fruit or 

 to obtain wax. The honey-bee of Borneo very generally makes its 

 nest on the branches of the " Tappang," a tree which towers above all 

 others in the forest, and whose smooth cylindrical trunk rises a hundred 

 feet or more without a branch, Bees'-wax is one of the most valuable 

 products of the forest, and the Dyaks climb these lofty trees at night 

 to obtain it, by means of bamboo pegs driven into the wood. These 

 pegs are formed of thick, old bamboo, split to about two inches wide. 

 Each is cut above a joint, which forms a solid head to bear the blows 

 of the mallet, and the point is flat and broad, cut away carefully to the 

 siliceous outer coating. To the head of each is strongly tied a strip of 

 the tough rind of a water-plant. The climber carries forty or fifty of 

 these pegs in a basket by his side, and has a wooden mallet suspended 

 round his neck; he has also prepared a number of strong, but slender 

 bamboos, each from twenty to thirty feet long. One of these he sticks 

 firmly in the ground at the foot of the tree, and close to it ; he then 

 drives in a peg as high as he can reach, and ties it firmly by the head 

 to the bamboo; climbing up upon this, he drives in and ties two other 

 pegs, each about three feet from the one below it, passing his arm be- 

 tween the tree and the bamboo, to hold the peg which he is driving in. 

 He soon reaches the top of his pole, when another one is handed up 

 to him, and being bound to the one below, he ascends in the same way 

 another twenty feet. When his pegs are exhausted, a boy brings a 

 fresh basketful up to him, and a long cord enables him to pull up the 

 bamboos as he requires them. This mode of ascent looks perilous, but 

 is in reality perfectly secure. Each peg holds as tightly as a spike-nail, 

 besides which the weight is always distributed, over a great number of 

 them by means of the vertical bamboos. Trees which branch at forty 

 feet OT less, are often ascended by pegs alone, which, l}esides being 

 dangerous, requires much skill and activity in the climber, as he must 

 grasp the middle peg firmly with his hand to hold himself up, and has 

 but one hand at liberty to drive in the pegs. I have seen trees as- 



