IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap, xviii 



The Pennans, like the Punans and the Buketans, have no settled 

 dwellings and do not cultivate rice. They live mainly on the sago 

 produced by the kajatau and on wild animals, which they kill 

 with the sumpitan darts, poisoned with upas, which they prepare 

 themselves. They wear the canine teeth of the tree-leopard passed 

 through the upper portion of the ear, as the Kayans do ; indeed, 

 they resemble these latter in many ways. 



My collections went on increasing by the addition of many inter- 

 esting specimens. On the last day of August I got a new species 

 of durian (P.B., No. 4,019). It was a great isolated tree, rising in 

 a cleared spot, evidently an old forest giant which had been pre- 

 served when the land had been cleared all round for cultivation. It 

 was then in blossom, the flowers being, as in the true durian, on the 

 big branches, and having a delicious perfume of ripe apples. In my 

 remarks on the durians (Cf. Malesia, vol. iii.), I have considered the one 

 found on this occasion as referable to D. carinatus, but, nevertheless, 

 as a distinct variety (var. Bintulensis, Becc). However, the typical 

 D. carinatus does not produce edible fruits, and as the specimen I 

 have just described had been evidently preserved when its forest 

 companions had been without any exception destroyed, there are 

 good reasons to suppose that this was done by the natives because 

 they knew it to be a useful tree. Thus when the fruits of the wild 

 durian of the Bintulu are known, it may be that we shall have to 

 add a new species to the long list of trees growing wild in the 

 forests of Borneo which produce edible fruit. 



When we were approaching the sea, on the muddy banks where 

 the river had formed a small island I noted some clumps of Licuala 

 paludosa l about sixteen feet high, which, with their colour and the 

 elegant shape of their fronds, brightened the monotonous aspect of 

 the vegetation, here composed almost entirely of nipas. I found, 

 also, some specimens of Cyrtostachys Lakka, 2 another handsome palm, 

 easily remarked at a distance on account of the bright red colour of 

 the ensheathing portion of its fronds which covers the upper portion 

 of the stem. During this excursion I found but few orchids ; and such 

 as I got were only species with small and inconspicuous flowers. 



At 4 p.m. we came in for another deluge, but after a couple of 

 hours' paddling we at length reached Fort Bintulu. 



1 This is one of the few palms I met with on the Bintulu which is not pe- 

 culiar to that region. Licuala paludosa is found on the Malay Peninsula and 

 in Siam ; its presence in Borneo is explained by its aquatic habits, enabling 

 its seeds to be carried afar much more easily than those of other palms. 



2 This species is also found at Singapore, and is nearly allied to the 

 Cyrtostachys Rendah of Sumatra. The observations made above concerning 

 Licuala paludosa are applicable to this tree also, for it grows in flooded tracts 

 subject to the influence of the tides, and its seeds are able to resist the action 

 of salt water, so that it has every facility for a wide dispersal. 



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