xvi] A NIGHT BIVOUAC 



mummified body of a large insect larva. One must be a mycologist 

 to be able to appreciate fully these two marvellous vegetable pro- 

 ductions. 



Having been successful in attaining the object of my trip, I had 

 now to think of returning to Singhi ; although the locality was one 

 of exceptional interest and richness as a collecting ground, and a 

 longer stay would have given excellent results. Towards evening 

 we were back on the spur which projects from Mount Mattang, and 

 built up a shelter for the night on its ridge under a pelting rain. In 

 a few minutes the Dyaks had collected the requisite timber, the 

 rotangs for tying them together, and the leaves for the roofing. 

 Never before had I found such excellent and handy materials for 

 covering a lanko furnished at the same time by a tree which was 

 both beautiful and rare. This was Teysmannia altifrons, a palm with 

 undivided leaves of an elongated lozenge-like shape, quite ten feet 

 in length without the stalk, and three feet in width. If we except 

 bananas, the Ravenala madagascariensis , and, perhaps, some of the 

 Heliconias, this is the plant which produces the largest undivided 

 leaves anywhere in the Old World. In America, however, there are 

 the Manicarias, palms nearly allied to Teysmannia, with entire 

 leaves of quite twice the dimensions of those of the latter palm. The 

 Teysmannia grows in Sumatra, as well as in Borneo, and has recently 

 been found also in the Malay Peninsula. At Singhi it is called 

 Sumuruch, and the Malays of Sarawak give to its fronds the name of 

 daun-ekor buaya, i.e. " crocodile-tail leaves." 



The Dyaks who were with me were very active and thorough- 

 ly at home in the forest. After having erected the lanko they 

 lighted a fire, notwithstanding the ceaseless rain. They are never 

 at a loss to find materials for this, even in the dampest weather, 

 being acquainted with certain plants, I believe of the order Amyrid- 

 acece, the wood of which will burn well even when quite green. Of 

 course, to obtain the first sparks they must have a little dry wood, 

 and this they search for inside dead tree-trunks, of which there are 

 always plenty about in the old forest. They are acquainted with 

 the way of getting fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. 

 For this purpose two small sticks are used, one of hard, the other of 

 soft wood, well dried, the latter having notches cut in it. Holding 

 the first vertically between the two palms, it is rotated rapidly like 

 an egg-whisk, its lower rounded extremity resting in one of the 

 notches of the soft-wood stick. From this small dust-like particles 

 are detached ; these descend into the notch and soon become ignited. 

 Usually, a little tinder is added to facilitate matters. The Dyaks of 

 Singhi know also how to get a spark from a kind of bamboo called 

 bulu tamian, on which they strike with a bit of silicious stone^or 

 a fragment of Chinese porcelain. The production of fire by pneu- 

 matic pressure is also known to them, a little tinder being placed at 



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