IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap 



it be true that the Land-Dyaks are the descendants of old Javanese 

 or Sumatran colonists, the fear inspired by the mountain might be 

 explained by its resemblance to a volcanic cone and by old remini- 

 scences of terrible eruptions, so frequent in the islands whence 

 they came, confusedly transmitted by the memory of the immigrants. 

 The flames, smoke, vapours, boiling water, mud, ashes, and 

 lapilli ejected at intervals by volcanoes, the subterranean rumblings 

 in their interior, the violent earthquakes, etc., in short, all the 

 concomitants of eruptions, are phenomena which must have produced 

 a deep and lasting impression on a primitive, ignorant, and supersti- 

 tious people. It is thus not strange that the Dyaks should 

 consider mountain tops with feelings of awe and terror, and believe 

 them to be the residence of those supernatural beings termed by 

 them " Karnaugh which it is neither right nor prudent to dis- 

 turb. 



Although I can have no doubt as to the primeval condition of the 

 Mattang forest, yet on the spot where I had built my house were 

 indications that at some time it may have been the abode of man. 

 I was led to think this by the large bamboos I found growing there. 

 Cultivated bamboos do not grow and multiply spontaneously in the 

 primeval forests of Borneo. They are reproduced by division of 

 the root, and perhaps sometimes by cuttings, but they rarely 

 blossom and still more rarely produce seed. For these reasons I 

 came to the conclusion that the isolated clump of bamboos which 

 had furnished me with pipes to convey the water to my house 

 could not have spontaneously sprung up on that spot, but had much 

 more probably originated from bits of the cane left there by Dyaks 

 who had come to the tapang growing near, in search of honey. 

 Another vestige of the presence of man was possibly the Alocasia 

 macrorhiza, one of the cultivated " kaladi," with feculent tubers, 

 which grew and multiplied naturally, attaining colossal proportions 

 (the leaves measured 5 ft. in length), down towards the lower 

 part of the brook, near the place where this reached the plain. 



At this spot there was quite an accumulation of beautiful 

 plants, no doubt brought about by the many seeds and fruits carried 

 thither from all parts of the mountain by the waters of the stream. 

 Amongst them I may mention a new and magnificent palm (Arenga 

 breviftes), and several singular Anonacese, as Sphcerothalamus insignis. 

 Hook, and Marcuccia grandiflora, Becc. 1 In the same locality, 

 attracted by the sweet and delicious scent exhaled by some fallen 

 fruits, I discovered one of the most exquisite wild durians of Borneo, 

 Durio dulcis, Becc. 2 



The question of the age of the great forest trees was one 



1 Nuovo Giomale Botanico Italiano, iii. p. 181. Firenze, 1871. 



2 Malesia, iii. p. 243. 



no 



