IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



feet from the ground the circumference of the trunk was 69 feet ; 

 but this was not the girth of the cylindrical part, or trunk 

 proper, but of the buttresses as well. Such expansions or buttresses 

 in the Abauria are at times so large and flat as to furnish the immense 

 planks which I saw during my stay with the Tubao Kayans. The 

 trunk, covered with a light-coloured smooth bark, rises perfectly 

 straight without a branch, like an immense column, for at least 

 two-thirds of the total height of the tree. Only at that great height 

 does it spread out its vast branches, on which honey bees build 

 their nests in preference to any other tree. The crown is immense 

 and dome-shaped. 



On the 26th we continued to ascend the Entabei. In some places 

 the water was very low, but my Dyaks, strong, active, and always 

 good-humoured, got out and dragged the boat for long distances. 

 The weather continued fine, but the country was less picturesque. 

 With the exception of some fields covered with green rice, we passed 

 through nothing but land clothed with jungle of secondary growth. 

 Whilst we were passing a village I noticed an object which I could 

 not explain. It looked at first something like the scaffolding for 

 putting up a statue (Fig. 54). When I learnt that it was the appara- 

 tus for making sumpitans I stopped on purpose to examine it, and 

 had the good fortune to see it working, for one of these weapons 

 was then being made. The piece of wood selected to be bored is 

 always of a hard, tough kind, usually tapang or mingris (Dialium). 

 It is cut about the length required, some six or seven feet, but 

 the thickness is considerably greater than the ultimate diameter 

 of the tube. This long log of timber is fixed vertically on a kind of 

 platform, which is raised on four stout wooden pillars planted in the 

 ground and held firm by slanting stakes ; they are also bound together 

 by transverse bars, so that the whole structure is exceedingly strong. 

 The raised platform, on which the log rests vertically, is about seven 

 feet above the ground. As soon as the log of wood is fixed firmly 

 in its perpendicular position, so that it cannot possibly move, the 

 Dyak artificer places himself beneath the scaffold and strikes with a 

 uniform and measured stroke the centre of the lower end of the log, 

 using a round iron rod a little longer than the log, nearly as 

 thick as the calibre of the sumpitan, and sharp at the end like 

 a chisel. This is continued until the log is bored right through. 

 To polish the bore and render it perfectly uniform in diameter, a 

 rotang of adequate length and diameter is passed through and worked 

 up and down as long as is necessary. The method of boring is similar 

 to that used for making blasting holes in mines, only, the work is 

 done from beneath upwards. The iron borer has a wooden handle 

 fitted to it to facilitate working, and this handle is run down the 

 iron rod as the work proceeds. 



That evening we reached the pangkalan, or landing-place, 



