6 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



covered with a dense forest. On the summits this 

 consists of comparatively stunted trees, of which 

 every part is thickly coated with moss. In all 

 other parts the forest consists of great trees rising 

 to a height of 150 feet, and even 200 feet, and of 

 a dense undergrowth of younger and smaller trees, 

 and of a great variety of creepers, palms, and 

 ferns. Trees of many species (nearly 500) yield 

 excellent timber, ranging from the hardest iron- 

 wood or biliauy and other hard woods (many of 

 them so close-grained that they will not float in 

 water), to soft, easily worked kinds. A considerable 

 number bear edible fruits, notably the mango (from 

 which the island derives its Malay name, Pulu 

 Klemantari), the durian, mangosteen, rambutan, 

 jack fruit, trap, lansat, banana of many varieties, 

 both wild and cultivated, and numerous sour less 

 nutritious kinds. Wild sago is abundant in some 

 localities. Various palms supply in their unfolding 

 leaves a cabbage-like edible. Among edible roots 

 the caladium is the chief Rubber is obtained as 

 the sap of a wild creeper ; gutta-percha from trees 

 of several varieties ; camphor from pockets in the 

 stem of the camphor tree {Dryobalanops aromatica). 

 But of all the jungle plants those which play the 

 most important parts in the life of the people are 

 the many species of the rattan and the bamboo ; 

 without them more than half the crafts and most 

 of the more important material possessions of the 

 natives would be impossible, and their lives would 

 perhaps nearly conform to the conventional notion 

 of savage existence as something ' nasty, dull, and 

 brutish.' The jungle of Borneo is, of course, 

 famous for its wealth of orchids, and can claim 

 the distinction of producing the largest flower of 

 the world {Rafflesia)^ and many beautiful varieties 

 of the pitcher plant. 



The forests of Borneo harbour more than 450 



