EXPEDITION INTO THE JUNGLE 37 



is made of big leaves, and in less than an hour they are 

 comfortably at home in one or more sheds, grouped 

 around fires on the flimsy floor. 



It is a curious fact that one can always manage to 

 make a fire in these damp woods; a petroleum burner is 

 not essential. The natives always know where to go to 

 find something dry that will burn; as for the white man's 

 cook, he usually improves upon the situation by soaking 

 the wood in petroleum, which is one of the valuable 

 articles of equipment. Often in the jungle, when slightly 

 preparing the ground for erecting the tent, phosphorescent 

 lights from decayed vegetable matter shone in innumera- 

 ble spots, as if a powerful lamp were throwing its light 

 through a grating. 



In ascending the hills it was surprising how soon the 

 aspect of the vegetation changed. The camp we were 

 just leaving was only about a metre above the Kayan 

 River, so we probably were not more than twenty-odd 

 metres above sea-level. Twenty metres more, and the 

 jungle vegetation was thinner even at that short distance. 

 Trees, some of them magnificent specimens of hard wood, 

 began to assert themselves. Above 100 metres elevation it 

 was not at all diflficult to make one's way through the 

 jungle, even if we had not had a slight Punan path to 

 follow. It is easier than to ascend the coast range of 

 northeast Queensland under 18° S.L., where the lawyer 

 palms are very troublesome. Making a light clearing 

 one evening we opened the view to a couple of tall trees 

 called in Malay, palapak, raising their crowns high above 

 the rest; this is one of the trees from which the natives 



