xvm] LARGE TAPANG PLANKS 



flooring was much better than that usually met with in such houses, 

 being formed of boards thinned with the adze ; and similar planks 

 were used for the divisions between the pintus. 



The most valuable things in this house were immense planks of 

 a beautiful wood used for squatting on by chiefs holding councils, and 

 also as beds. They were of a very hard close-grained wood of a deep 

 red colour, taking a beautiful polish, and, to my thinking, finer and 

 superior in quality to the best mahogany. The plank on which I 

 had laid my " tilang " or bedding was over two inches thick, eight 

 feet in length, and six in width. At Sarawak, in the possession of 

 a European, I have seen bigger planks, but I did not note their 

 dimensions. 1 At first I was puzzled by the extraordinary dimensions 

 of these planks, for I could hardly imagine that there were trees 

 with trunks big enough to furnish such sections. But later the 

 manner in which they were obtained was explained to me, and I was 

 also able to see them cut. 



The tree from which they are obtained is that king of the forest 

 the tapang (A bauria excelsa), whose colossal dimensions I have already 

 described. 2 If one looks at the base of a large tapang it is easy to 

 understand how the above-described huge planks are obtained, for 

 the Abauria is one of those trees which produce vast buttresses 

 around their base. These great laminar projections, called by the 

 natives " banner" are in some cases of immense size, and at the same 

 time so smooth and thin that by cutting them at their origin from 

 the trunk, and at the ground level, planks like those described can 

 be obtained at but little trouble and expense, and without either 

 cutting down the tree or doing it any injury. I afterwards met with 

 specimens of tapang in the forest which still bore the traces of having 

 thus been operated upon, and which did not seem to have suffered 

 in any way. 



In the houses at Tubaowe only found three women, all of whom 

 were ailing. The entire population was away preparing the ground for 

 rice sowing. Pangerang Rio had, however, announced my arrival 

 to the chiefs. The Pangerang, a native of Bruni, had managed to 

 become the factotum of Bintulu, and was employed by the Resident 

 in his communications with the inland chiefs. I learnt from the 

 Tubao Kayans that Pangerang Rio had ordered there 2,000 small 

 parcels of siri for the Government, but I am inclined to think that 

 they were a personal compensation for his trip. 



In the afternoon one of the Kayan chiefs named Tummusong 

 called on me. He was a tall fine-looking young man of serious 

 expression, who sported a tuft of beard on one side of his chin, the 

 other being completely bare, His hands were tattooed : a distinction 



1 Mr. St. John (Op. cit.i. p. 102) mentions a tapang plank 10 ft. 6 in. 

 long, and 6 ft. 6 in. wide, and another 1 5 ft. by 9 ft. 



2 Cf. ante, p. 109. 



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