IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



Placuna placenta, whose fiat, circular valves, which are very smooth, 

 thin, and glassy, and grow to about four inches in diameter, are 

 used by the Chinese as glass for their windows. 



In Bruni Bay this mollusc is evidently extremely abundant, for 

 the fishermen who sold them to us had loads of them. I had seen 

 them also at Santubong in Sarawak, and on the neighbouring coast, 

 but only during the north-east monsoon, when the waves probably 

 carry them into depths more accessible to the local fishermen. I have 

 always felt an instinctive dislike to all kinds of shell-fish, and there- 

 fore did not taste these, but my companions who ate them found them 

 excellent. After a little time, however, they felt a most trouble- 

 some itching sensation in the pharynx, which happily for them did 

 not last long. This unpleasant peculiarity of the Placuna was well 

 known to our Malays, who attributed it to a parasitic worm living in 

 the mollusc, which they always take care to extract before eating the 

 latter ; and indeed none of our crew who ate these shell-fish felt 

 the slightest inconvenience. I preserved specimens of the parasite, 

 which resembled a small Ascaris, in spirits. I found them in all the 

 Placunas I examined. 



It is generally believed, and I think with good reason, that 

 the name of Borneo, now used for the island, was originally derived 

 from that of Bruni city. I may remark that the former is quite 

 unknown to most of the natives of the great island. Borneo is 

 without doubt a corruption of Bruni, which I have heard pro- 

 nounced Brunei and Bornai. An old name of Borneo is " Tana 

 Bruni," for the Malays apply the term " Tana," i.e. " Land," also 

 to big islands, reserving that of " Pulo " for the small ones. 



Borneo is known to the natives also by the name of Tana (or 

 Pulo) Kalamantang, on account, it is said, of the fruit so called, a 

 species of wild mango, which abounds in its forests. Whilst on the 

 Upper Rejang I heard the name Gunong Kalamantang applied to 

 the group of mountains in the interior from which the principal 

 rivers in Borneo flow ; they are also called Batu Tabang and Gunong 

 Tilong. 1 



From what I was able to see during my brief visits to Labuan and 

 Bruni, North Borneo differs notably from the more southern parts 

 of the island, not only physically, but also for the political vicissi- 



1 In the Sarawak Gazette, of June 2, 1890 (p. 74), I find another hypothesis 

 as to the native name of Borneo. Mr. Treacher thinks it possible that the 

 derivation of the name Kalamantang, which he spells Kelemantan, is from 

 " lemantah," the Malay term for raw sago. This hypothesis appears to me 

 to be more probable, for sago is an abundant product on the coasts of Borneo, 

 and has been so from remote times. Even the name Gunong Kalamantang 

 may have a similar origin, on account of the wild sago got from the Eugeis- 

 sonia utilis, a palm which appears to be very abundant in the interior of 

 Borneo. 



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