204 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



manufactured, the native has recourse to an ingenious device 

 which saves a vast amount of exertion. As the calabash which 

 receives the juice of the palm-tree is always fixed at a consider- 

 able height, and as each tree only yields a limited supply, the 

 toddy-maker would be obliged to ascend and descend a great 

 number of trees before he could collect his supply of palm- 

 juice. 



In order to save himself trouble, he has the ingenuity to con- 

 nect the trees with each other by two ropes, the one about six 

 feet above the other. He then has only to ascend once, and 

 descend once, for he ascends one tree, and by means of the 

 ropes passes from tree to tree without needing to descend. 



The mode of traversing these ropes is simple enough, the 

 lower rope serving as a bridge, along which the man walks, 

 and the upper rope being held by the hands. Those who see 

 these palm-wine makers for the first time are always greatly 

 struck. At some little distance the ropes are quite invisible, 

 and the man appears to be walking through the air without any 

 support whatever. 



In Borneo the Rattan is continually put in requisition as a 

 bridge. It runs to almost any length, a hundred feet more or 

 less being of little consequence ; it is lithe and pliant, and so 

 strong that it can hardly be broken. The " canes " formerly 

 so much in vogue among schoolmasters, and now so generally 

 repudiated, are all cut from the Rattan. Chiefly by means of 

 this natural rope, the Dyak of Borneo flings his rude suspen- 

 sion-bridges across chasms or rivers, and really displays a 

 wonderful amount of ingenuity in doing so. 



The one fault of these bridges is their tendency to decay, or 

 perhaps to be eaten by the multitudinous wood-eating insects 

 which awarm in that country. However, the materials cost 

 nothing at all, and time scarcely more, so that when a bridge 

 breaks down, any man can fit up another at the expense of a few 

 hours' work. As, moreover, the Dyaks have a curious way of 

 building their houses on one side of a ravine, they find that 

 a bridge of this kind saves them the trouble of descending 

 and ascending the ravine whenever they wish to visit their 

 house. 



In many parts of America the Suspension-bridge is almost 

 a necessity. The country is broken up by vast clefts, tech- 



