TIMBER TREES IN BORNEO. 61 



tccted from the rain by the overhanging roofs. The 

 * maranti,' also a quick-growing timber tree, is held in 

 much higher esteem than the last. In grain it re- 

 sembles cedar, and like it is of a reddish colour, and 

 it is much valued for making packing-cases, planks 

 for the sides of houses, &c. : when protected from 

 the weather it is a good and useful timber. The 

 ' dungun ' also belongs to this class : it grows on the 

 banks of rivers, and though the timber is soft, the 

 large buttress-like supports at the base of the tree are 

 very hard, and are valuable for gun carriages, and other 

 purposes : they would doubtless be useful in turnery. 



These that I have enumerated are but a few of the 

 trees in most general use among the natives j indeed, 

 I have been informed that the trees which are abun- 

 dant, and produce excellent timber, amount to up- 

 wards of sixty species : many of the other kinds, not 

 useful as timber trees, are valuable, or might be, for 

 making charcoal, pot-ash, pearlash, &c. Several kinds 

 of oaks are found in the forests, but being of quick 

 growth and soft wood, their timber is not esteemed. 



Of ornamental woods, though it is improbable that 

 the island should be destitute of them, many kinds 

 have not yet been found. The ebony is abundant in 

 many parts of the island, particularly on the west 

 coast, but it is said to be inferior to that from the 

 Mauritius, although it has been found a very profit- 

 able export to China. In the neighbourhood of the 

 Lundu river, in the Sarawak territory, are large 

 forests of it, which the Sebooyoh Dyaks would collect 

 with gladness, if merchants were established at Sara- 



