234 FRUIT TREES. 



flavoured variety. Pine-apples are seldom cultivated 

 by the Dyaks, though they are found apparently in a 

 wild state about most of their villages j in such situ- 

 ations the fruit is small and of little flavour, and it is 

 remarkable that the Dyaks, who delight in the culti- 

 vated ones from the Chinese gardens at Sarawak, should 

 take no care of their own. 



The ancestors of the Dyaks having for many cen- 

 turies occupied the countries these people now inhabit, 

 fruit trees are scattered in abundance all over its 

 surface, particularly near the banks of rivers, and all 

 jungles abound with them. The most esteemed kinds 

 surround their villages, and these, with other in 

 easily accessible places, are individual property; but 

 those of the jungles are not owned, and the fruit of 

 them generally becomes the property of the squirrels, 

 monkeys, and birds, which frequent the forests con- 

 taining them, unless the destructive Malay should see 

 them, who, ever thoughtless of the future, immediately 

 cuts down with his hatchet a tree which has taken many 

 years to attain its fruiting state, and for the purpose of 

 gathering a few for himself, destroys what might at 

 some future time be of service to the Dyaks or others, 

 who might, for the purposes of mining or agriculture, 

 be compelled to reside in the vicinity. 



As the woods of the country of the sea-Dyaks abound 

 in pigs and deer, and the tribes are not prevented by any 

 superstitious prejudice from eating the flesh of either of 

 these animals, various contrivances are in use for their 



