172 The Malay ArchiiJelago. [April, 



imfrequently happen to persons walking or working under the trees. 

 When a Durian strikes a man in its fall it produces a dreadful wound, 

 the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very 

 heavy ; but from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the 

 copious effusion of blood preventing the inflammation which might 

 otherwise take place. A Dyak chief informed me that he had been 

 struck down by a Durian falling on his head, which he thought would 

 certainly have caused his death, yet he recovered in a very short 

 time. 



" Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, 

 have thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that 

 their fall should be harmless to man, while the large ones trailed 

 on the ground. Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, how- 

 ever, the Brazil-nut fruit (Bertlwlletia) and Diu'ian, grow on lofty 

 forest trees, from which they fall as soon as they are rij)e, and often 

 J^vound or kill the native inhabitants. From this we may learn two 

 things : first, not to di'aw general conclusions from a very partial 

 view of nature ; and secondly, that trees and fruits, no less than 

 the varied productions of the animal kingdom, do not appear to 

 be organized with exclusive reference to the use and convenience 

 1 of man." * 



With the first sentence in the author's closing remarks, namely, 

 that we should not draw general conclusions from a very partial 

 view of nature, we heartily concur ; and this is precisely the error 

 into which he and similar argumentators fall ; but we should hke 

 to know who has ever been so foolish as to state that " trees and 

 fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal kingdom, 

 are organized with exclusive reference to the use and convenience 

 of man." We certainly do not remember ever having seen such 

 a doctrine propounded, either by poet or morahst ; but if we found 

 such a position assumed, we should certainly not adduce the author's 

 illustration as evidence against its validity. As well might he say 

 that because fowling-pieces sometimes kill sportsmen who are foolish 

 enough to get into the way when they are going off, therefore 

 fowling-pieces were not designed for the exclusive use of Man ! 



But, on the other hand, if we wish for a mass of evidence in 

 favour of design, before which Paley pales, we need only read the 

 author's account of the Bamboo and its uses, which follows imme- 

 diately upon that of the Durian. He shows that it is indispensable 

 to the natives. Looking at their mental condition, they could not 

 have existed without it, or some similar boon of Providence. Page 

 after page of the work is occupied with an account of its uses. 

 Every fraction of it is utiHzed, It enters into the constitution of 

 their dwellings, serves as the raw material from which they make 

 hen-coops, cages, fish-traps, bridges, aqueducts, water-buckets, 



* Wallace, vol. i., jip. 110-20. 



