UP THE BUSANG RIVER i6i 



wooden plugs had been driven in firmly about thirty 

 centimetres apart. This is the way Dayaks, and Malays 

 who have learned it from them, climb trees to get the 

 honey and wax of the bees' nests suspended from the 

 high branches. On the Barito, from the deck of the 

 Otto, I had observed similar contrivances on still taller 

 trees of the same kind called tapang, which are left 

 standing when the jungle is cleared to make ladangs. 



A few days later the rest of our party arrived and, 

 having picked up six rubber gatherers, brought the re- 

 mainder of the luggage from their camp. Some men 

 were then sent to bring up the goods stored in the utan 

 below, and on February 3 this was accomplished. 

 An Ot-Danum from the Djuloi River, with wife and 

 daughter, camped here for a few days, hunting for gold 

 in the river soil, which is auriferous as in many other 

 rivers of Borneo. They told me they were glad to make 

 sixty cents a day, and if they were lucky the result might 

 be two florins. 



We found ourselves in the midst of the vast jungles 

 that cover Borneo, serving to keep the atmosphere cool 

 and prevent air currents from ascending in these windless 

 tropics. We were almost exactly on the equator, at an 

 elevation of about 100 metres. In January there had 

 been little rain and in daytime the weather had been 

 rather muggy, but with no excessive heat to speak of, 

 provided one's raiment is suited to the tropics. On the 

 last day of the month, at seven o'clock in the morning, 

 after a clear and beautiful night, the temperature was 72° 

 F. (22° C). Durin£ the additional three weeks passed 



