IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



As I have previously remarked, my principal object in this 

 excursion up the Mattang mountain was not to reach its summit 

 so much as to find a suitable locality for building myself a house. 

 After some exploration, I decided that the most convenient spot 

 for my future headquarters was that where we had halted for 

 lunch on the previous morning during our ascent, on a sort of terrace 

 about 1,000 feet above sea-level, between two ravines, from one of 

 which water could easily be led to the place where I intended to 

 build my hut. 



My men, under the direction of the Tuan-ku, set to work to con- 

 struct a large and commodious lanko, as a shelter during the 

 building of the house. In this locality palms abound, and the roof 

 of the temporary hut was made entirely of their fronds, and was 

 quite impervious to rain. The trees were felled all round, and a big 

 one was cut so as to fall across and bridge the nearest ravine. It 

 was an enormous trunk, about ioo feet in length and three feet in 

 diameter ; it fell just as we wished, and formed a solid bridge some 

 sixty feet above the bottom of the gorge. 



My house was to be of the Malay type, raised on piles ; and by 

 a fortunate chance, on the very site I had chosen, there grew three 

 thin trees about nine inches in diameter, and situated so as to form 

 exactly the three corners of a square at a distance of some thirty 

 feet apart. These were chosen as the corner pillars of the house 

 to be built. One of them was flowering, and I preserved specimens 

 from it. It was a Canarium (?) as yet undescribed by botanists, and 

 evidently fully grown. The other two were young specimens of 

 large forest trees, and from their foliage I recognised them as be- 

 longing to two distinct genera of Dipterocarpeae, and in all pro- 

 bability of undescribed species. This may help to give an idea of 

 the richness of the flora of Gunong Mattang, that three trees selected 

 by mere chance, only thirty feet apart from each other, should be- 

 long to three distinct genera and to species probably peculiar to 

 Borneo and new to science. Their trunks were cut at thirteen feet 

 from the ground, for the flooring was to be of such a height as to 

 permit anyone to walk beneath it. All the other trees for a good 

 space around were felled or rooted up, especially in front of the 

 future house, not only to get a clear view, but to allow the sun's 

 rays to dry the ground and generally to neutralise the dampness, 

 which otherwise would have rendered the drying of botanical speci- 

 mens a difficulty. 



From the bigger trees the bark was detached to be used for 

 the lanko and later for the house. A search was made for long, 

 slender stems suitable for the framework, and these were solidly 

 planted in the ground ; the tranverse poles were tied on with rotangs, 

 of which also there was no lack. Another excellent material for 

 tying was furnished by the Nepenthes, whose stalks, about a quarter 



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