FOR CERTAIN PLANTS. 273 



native of the island. It is planted near their houses 

 and around the " bulu gading," or ivory bamboo, 

 which is held in great reverence. This beautiful cane, 

 one or more tufts of which are found near every village, 

 grows to the height of the largest of the genus : its 

 stems are of a bright yellow colour, with a smooth and 

 ivory-like appearance. Beneath its shade, and amongst 

 plants of the crimson and pink-leaved Dracaena, is 

 generally erected a little bamboo altar, covered in winter 

 from the rain with a roof, but more frequently open. 

 When protected, a ladder is usually placed for facilitating 

 the ascent of the spirit to the offerings upon the 

 stage, which are placed there on all their festival 

 occasions : when the altar is roofed, it in general 

 resembles a Dyak house, and thus becomes a little 

 temple. No worship is paid to the tree, but the place 

 on which it stands is considered sacred ; and a plant is 

 always procured and tended with care in every village, 

 until it becomes a large and handsome bush. Its 

 gracefully beautiful stems and foliage probably first 

 attracted the attention of these people, and induced 

 them to suppose plants, which were to them of so 

 pleasing an appearance, equally the favourites of the 

 gods. 



The Bunga Si-kudip, as it is called by the Dyaks of 

 the southern branch of the Sarawak river, and amongst 

 whom it is held in the greatest esteem, though known, I 

 believe to all the tribes, is the plant described by botanists 

 as the Pancratium Amboinense or Eurycles coronata, a 

 native of the Moluccas and other islands to the east- 



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