xn] WILD BANANAS 



Very rarely had I succeeded in finding the nests of birds in the 

 forest, where usually they are placed so high up on the trees or are 

 so well hidden that it is most difficult to get them. I once found 

 the nest of Pitta granatina, one of the most beautiful of Bornean 

 birds, the eggs of which had not, I believe, been previously known. 

 The nest was on the ground in a Maranta thicket, near a streamlet, 

 in the denser part of the jungle ; it was formed of dry leaves, and 

 only contained two eggs. The bird slipped off when I was close to 

 its nest ; but although I did. not obtain it, I am quite sure that I 

 identified the species aright. 



The Dyaks used to bring me rare and curious animals, though not 

 as often as I should have expected and wished. One day they brought 

 me a small owl, with which I was greatly delighted, for nocturnal 

 birds are scarce in Borneo. What is the reason of this I wonder ? 

 Another day it was a very fine pheasant (Euplocamus nobilis), 

 a hen bird, which is devoid of the brilliant dress of its mate. The 

 eye, however, is magnificent, with rosy carmine iris, and the naked 

 skin around of a clear amethyst. 



I also bought a live bear — a youngster, and very tame. It was 

 comic in its habits, and would sit by the hour sucking its paw and 

 grunting, and never seeking to get away, although perfectly free. 

 It took kindly to boiled rice. The Dyaks assert that they are 

 acquainted with two species of bear. The one they had brought me, 

 the commonest, is entirely black, with a yellow semicircular mark 

 on the chest and short hair ; the other, a rarer kind, has long fur, 

 no mark on the chest, and reddish hairs on the sides of the face ; 

 the latter they call " Bruan rambei." 1 In Sarawak I had also 

 heard of a third species called " Bruan bulan," i.e. " Moon-bear," 

 entirely black, with a light semilunar patch on the head and not on 

 the chest. 



I went to collect some wild bananas which I had remarked 

 growing abundantly along a little stream on a hill not far from the 

 Kunsi's house, in cleared spots which had been formerly cultivated. 

 I found three distinct and very characteristic species, but from what 

 I learnt two more, which I have not seen, are known to the Dyaks. 

 A fact of no little interest is this existence of no less than three 

 species of Musa, apparently endemic, growing together promis- 

 cuously in a restricted area, never found in the primeval forest, nay, 

 actually dependent on its destruction for their own existence. 

 I cannot now explain the series of considerations which have led 

 me to the hypothesis that such species of Musa are the product of 

 a retrocession to the wild state of hybrid cultivated forms, believing 

 that it is man who has prepared for them a convenient environment 



1 " Rambei " is perhaps derived from rambut, hair, and is the adjective 

 by which the Malays distinguish long-haired animals. 



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