Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mation which might otherwise take place. A Dyak chief informed me that he had been
struck down by a Durian falling on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused
his death, yet he recovered in a very short time.
Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have thought that small
fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that their fall should be harmless to man, while the large
ones trailed on the ground. Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, however, the
Brazil-nut fruit (Bertholletia) and Durian, grow on lofty forest trees, from which they fall as
soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native inhabitants. From this we may learn
two things: first, not to draw general conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and
secondly, that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal kingdom, do
not appear to be organized with exclusive reference to the use and convenience of man.
During my many journeys in Borneo, and especially during my various residences among
the Dyaks, I first came to appreciate the admirable qualities of the Bamboo. In those parts of
South America which I had previously visited, these gigantic grasses were comparatively
scarce; and where found but little used, their place being taken as to one class of uses by the
great variety of Palms, and as to another by calabashes and gourds. Almost all tropical coun-
tries produce Bamboos, and wherever they are found in abundance the natives apply them to
a variety of uses. Their strength lightness smoothness straightness roundness and hollow-
ness, the facility and regularity with which they can be split, their many different sizes, the
varying length of their joints, the ease with which they can be cut and with which holes can
be made through them, their hardness outside, their freedom from any pronounced taste or
smell, their great abundance, and the rapidity of their growth and increase, are all qualities
which render them useful for a hundred different purposes, to serve which other materials
would require much more labour and preparation. The Bamboo is one of the most wonderful
and most beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of nature's most valuable gifts to un-
civilized man.
The Dyak houses are all raised on posts, and are often two or three hundred feet long and
forty or fifty wide. The floor is always formed of strips split from large Bamboos, so that
each may be nearly flat and about three inches wide, and these are firmly tied down with
rattan to the joists beneath. When well made, this is a delightful floor to walk upon bare-
footed, the rounded surfaces of the bamboo being very smooth and agreeable to the feet,
while at the same time affording a firm hold. But, what is more important, they form with a
mat over them an excellent bed, the elasticity of the Bamboo and its rounded surface being
far superior to a more rigid and a flatter floor. Here we at once find a use for Bamboo which
cannot be supplied so well by another material without a vast amount of labour, palms and
