266 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



The women, who were genial in their manners, came 

 to my tent constantly to ask for tobacco, which evidently 

 was a great luxury with them, and sometimes they were 

 even troublesome. One afternoon when all was ready for 

 my bath, which I always take at one side of the tent 

 opening, three young women came and seated them- 

 selves just outside. While the natives are always wel- 

 come and I like them, yet I was not prepared, after 

 a hard day's work, to relinquish my bath in order to 

 receive a visit from even attractive ones of the fair sex. 

 There was simply nothing to do but to disregard their 

 presence. Calmly I began to take off my clothes, as if 

 the ladies were not there. At first my preparations 

 seemed to make no impression whatever, but finally, 

 when I was about to divest myself of the last of my few 

 garments, they smiled and went away. 



This was the season for the durian fruit and we much 

 enjoyed this delicacy, of which Mr. A. R. Wallace, fifty 

 years ago, wrote: "To eat durians is a new sensation, 

 worth a voyage to the East to experience." There were 

 some superb trees seventy metres high growing not far 

 from my tent, and many others farther away. The peo- 

 ple of the Mahakam do not climb these tall trees to get 

 the fruit, but gather them from the ground after it has 

 fallen. One night I heard one fall with a considerable 

 crash. Roughly speaking, it is of the size of a cocoanut; a 

 large one might kill a man and has been known to cause 

 serious injury. It is most dangerous for children to 

 walk under the trees in the fruit season. 



The durian is intensely appreciated by the natives, 



