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. 



