IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



The hut was small, and the four or five Chinese to whom it 

 belonged, after finishing their meal — which was more ample than 

 ours, by reason of my contribution to their larder — and their pipe 

 of opium, went to sleep. We made the best of the accommodation 

 afforded us, and slept more or less badly till morning. 



The next day, November 14th, I wished to get off before sunrise, 

 but I had to give up the idea. Early starts were always a difficulty 

 with the Malays, for whom the morning slumber has special charms. 

 The Chinamen's hut was at the foot of the mountain, near a deep, 

 narrow ravine which appeared to descend abruptly from the summit. 

 To reach the latter from this side appeared difficult. We therefore 

 decided to go round the base of the mountain in search of a better 

 place for the ascent. Our way led us through a part where the forest 

 was of extraordinary beauty, the variety of the trees being almost 

 unlimited. But I had at that moment to be content with admiring 

 all these treasures, for had T attempted to collect even a portion of 

 what I handled we should never have reached our destination. 

 Besides, this was the place where I intended to explore the forest 

 exhaustively later on, the principal object of the present excursion 

 being to find a spot on the mountain on which a hut could be built. 

 This was to be the centre of future explorations, and it was my 

 intention to remain several months in it, with my men and all the 

 requisites for collecting. 



In merely crossing the forest, as we did, little indeed can be col- 

 lected by the naturalist. It is true that on the way many plants are 

 met with within easy reach of the hand, such as small palms, 

 aroids, gingers, grasses, etc., or dwarf shrubs and bushes from 

 which specimens may be got with a few strokes of the parang. 

 But the bulk of the vegetation in Borneo consists of forest trees 

 which are inaccessible to the passer-by, and for that very reason 

 less known and more interesting. 



A Bornean primeval forest is not formed like our European 

 woods by one or at most a few kinds of trees, but of an incredible 

 number of species. I have never counted the number of trees 

 growing on a measured area in a Bornean forest ; but the number is 

 certainly very large, both in individuals and in species. Naturally, 

 it would vary in different localities ; thus on the slopes of mountains 

 the number of individuals of a given species is greater than in the 

 valleys or on the plain ; whilst on these the variety of species is 

 larger, for it is here that fruits and seeds carried by the streams and 

 spread by frequent inundations accumulate in large quantities. I 

 believe that such indeed is the most efficacious of the many ways 

 of dispersion of seeds of forest trees on the plains, the more so as 

 the rainy season corresponds with that of the ripening of their fruits. 

 It must not, however, be forgotten that there are quite a number 

 of plants for whose seeds no such means of dispersal are available. 



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