IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap, v 



business, wearing, as I did, thin-soled cloth shoes, wet and sodden 

 into the bargain by the previous wading through mud and water. 

 I thus gave up the attempt to get to the top, which could only have 

 been done by means of the creepers and roots, which, not unlike 

 gigantic serpents, hung from the perpendicular face of the rock. 

 This was so precipitous as to be in many places quite bare — a rare 

 case in Borneo — whilst along the summit of the cliff the vegetation 

 grew like a huge crest. 



The erosions in the limestone are no doubt due to the atmo- 

 spheric agency taking effect in those places where the rocky mass 

 presents inequalities of composition. But the big fissures and the 

 caves, so frequent in rocks of this kind, must be a consequence of their 

 origin. If, as I believe, these peculiar limestone crags are of madre- 

 poric origin, they are the result of an accumulation of inorganic 

 matter deposited by polyps in the sea. Everyone who has had 

 occasion to examine living corals or madreporic rocks in situ, and 

 has noted how the polyps multiply, can easily understand how 

 caverns may form in the rocks they give rise to. In a coral rock 

 in process of formation, the polyps at work very rarely grow in a 

 uniform manner, and never form compact masses — interspaces and 

 hollows frequently occurring between one colony and another. 

 When such interspaces are extensive, as in the case of colonies 

 growing separately and coming into contact later in the progress 

 of their growth, fissures or caverns necessarily result, which are not 

 less marked in the rock when it has emerged from the sea than in its 

 former submarine condition. 



The non-calcareous hills and mountains in Borneo, however 

 precipitous, may always be distinguished by their smooth and 

 rounded outline, which is partly due also to the vegetation which 

 contrives to take root even in the smallest crannies. And this 

 vegetation does not consist only of grasses, mosses, or small bushes, 

 but of large shrubs, climbers and trees, which cover every inch 

 available. 



I had only brought as provisions some cooked rice and a box of 

 sardines, but on the road we had found an addition to my dinner 

 in the shape of some cucumbers which the Dyaks had sowed in 

 their paddy-fields. Though rather bitter, these were very refreshing. 

 We returned by a route only slightly different from that we had 

 come by, but we were under the disadvantage of walking during 

 the hottest hours of the day, over ground which, being covered by 

 forest of secondary growth, offered but a poor protection against 

 the sun's rays. I was therefore very thankful when we reached 

 the foot of the Serambo hill, and entered a fine grove of durian trees, 

 under whose welcome shade we halted to rest. I brought down 

 some of the big fruits with a shot or two from my gun. They were 

 not yet quite ripe, but the pulp covering the seeds was already well 



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