CHAPTER 9
Life in the Jungle
All the peoples of Borneo support themselves in part by hunting and trapping the wild creatures of the jungle, but for the Punans alone is the chase the principal source of food-supply; the various natural products of the jungle are, with the exception of cultivated sago in some few regions, their only marketable commodities.
Hunting
The wild pig (SUS BARBATUS[53]) is the principal object of the chase, but deer of several species are also hunted and trapped. The largest of these (CERVUS EQUINUS) is rather bigger than the English fallow deer; the smallest is plandok, or mouse deer (TRAGULUS NAPU and T. JAVANICUS), standing only about eight inches at the shoulder; intermediate in size is the muntjac (CERVULUS MUNTJAC). There are also small herds of wild cattle (BOS SONDAICUS), a small rhinoceros (R. SUMATRANUS), large lizards (VARANUS), various apes and monkeys, and a large porcupine (HESTRIX CRASSISPINUS), and several small mammals, such as otters (LUTRA), bear-cats (ARCTICTIS), and civet cats (PARADOAURUS) of various species, all of which are hunted for their flesh, as well as several birds. The tiger-cat (FELIS NEBULOSA) and the bear (URSUS MALAYANUS) are hunted for their skins and teeth, and the dried gall-bladder of the bear is sold for medicine.
The pig and deer are most commonly hunted on foot by a party of several men with a pack of four or five dogs. The dogs, having found the trail, chase the pig until he turns on them. The dogs then surround the pig, barking and yelping, and keep it at bay till the men run up and despatch it with their spears. Both men and dogs sometimes get severely bitten and torn by the tusks. During the fruit season the pigs migrate in large herds and cross the rivers at certain places well known to the hunters. The people lie in wait for them in little huts built on the banks, and kill them from their boats as they swim across.
Kenyahs and Klemantans sometimes catch deer by driving them into a JARING. This consists of a strong rope of plaited rattans stretched in a straight line across the jungle, from tree to tree, some five feet above the ground. It is generally laid so as to complete the enclosure of an area that is almost surrounded by the river. Dependent from the whole length of the rattan rope is a series of running nooses also of rattan, each of which, overlapping its neighbours on both sides, forms a loop about two feet in diameter. Men armed with spears are stationed along the JARING, at short intervals, and the rest of the party with the dogs beat the jungle driving any deer in the enclosed space headlong towards the JARING. Some of the deer may escape, but some will usually run their heads into the nooses and fall victims to the spears of the watchers. Both pig and deer are sometimes brought down with the blow-pipe, especially by the Punans, whose favourite weapon it is.
The wild cattle are very wary and dangerous to attack. They sometimes take to the water and are then easily secured. Punans, who hunt without dogs (which in fact they do not possess) will lie in wait for the rhinoceros beside the track by which he comes to his daily mud-bath, and drive a spear into his flank or shoulder; then, after hastily retiring, they track him through the jungle, until they come upon him again, and find an opportunity of driving in another spear or a poisoned dart through some weak spot of his armour.
Birds and monkeys are chiefly killed with the blow-pipe.
Traps
Traps of many varieties are made. For pig and deer a trap is laid at a gap in the fence about the PADI field. It consists of a bamboo spear of which the end is sharpened and hardened in the fire. This is laid horizontally about two feet from the ground, resting on guides. Its butt end is lashed to one end of a springy green pole at right angles to its length; the pole is laid horizontally, one end of it being firmly fixed to a tree, and the other (that carrying the spear) bent forcibly backwards and held back by a loop of rattan. This spring is set by means of an ingenious trigger, in such a way that an animal passing through the gap must push against a string attached to the trigger, and so release the spring, which then drives the bamboo spear across the gap with great force. (The drawing (Fig. 22) Will make clear the nature of the trigger.)
In one variety of this trap the spring is set vertically. The trap is varied in other ways. A curious practice of the Ibans on setting such a trap is to measure the appropriate height of the spear by means of a rod surmounted with a carving of a human figure (Fig. 23).
Of many ingenious traps for small animals the JERAT is the most widely used (see Fig. 24 and Pl. 85). A rude fence some hundreds of yards, in some cases as much as a mile, in length, is made by filling up with sticks and brushwood the spaces between the trees and undergrowth of the jungle. At intervals of ten or twenty yards narrow gaps are left, and in each of these a JERAT is set to catch the small creatures that, in wandering through the jungle and finding their course obstructed by the fence, seek to pass through the gaps. The gap is floored with a small platform of light sticks, six to eight inches long, laid across it parallel to one another in the line of the fence. The ends of these are supported at one side of the gap, about two inches above the ground, by a cross-stick lying at right angles to them. This stick in turn is supported about one inch above the ground in the following way: the two ends of a green stick are thrust firmly into the ground forming an arch over the end of the platform, and the extremities of the cross-stick are in contact with the pillars of the arch, and kept a little above the ground by being pulled against them by the spring trigger. This consists of a short stick attached by a cord to a strong springy pole thrust vertically into the ground. To set the trigger it is pulled down, bending the pole, and passed under the arch from the platform side outwards; the upper end of the trigger is then kept by the pull of the cord against the curve of the arch, and its lower end is pulled against the middle of the cross-stick. The pressure being maintained by the tension of the cord, this end of the platform is supported by the friction between the trigger and the cross-stick. The cord is prolonged beyond the trigger in a slip noose which lies open on the platform completely across the gap, so that any small animal entering the gap, and stepping upon the platform, necessarily places its feet within the goose. A few leaves are laid on the platform and cord to disguise them. When, then, a pheasant or other creature of appropriate size and weight steps on the platform, its weight causes the cross-stick to slip down from the hold of the trigger, and this, being released, is violently jerked with the noose into the air by the elastic reaction of the bent pole; in a large proportion of cases the noose catches the victim's feet and jerks him into the air, where he dangles by the feet till the arrival of the trapper, who visits his traps twice a day.
Another very curious and strikingly simple plan is employed by the Sea Dayaks for catching the Argus pheasant, whose beautiful wing feathers are highly valued. The cock-birds congregate at certain spots in the jungle, where they display their feathers and fight together. These spots they clear of all obstacles, pulling and pushing away sticks and leaves with their heads and necks, as well as scratching with their feet. The Dayaks, taking advantage of this habit, thrust vertically into the ground slips of bamboo, the edges of which are hardened in the fire and rendered very sharp. In the course of their efforts to remove these obstructions, the birds not infrequently inflict serious wounds about their necks, and weakened by loss of blood, are found by the Dayaks at no great distance from the fighting ground.
Traps of many other kinds are made for animals both large and small, especially by the. Sea Dayaks, who use traps more frequently than the other peoples. Our few descriptions will serve to illustrate the ingenuity displayed, the complexity of the mechanical principles involved in some of them, and the extreme simplicity of others. Previous writers have described many of these in detail, and we content ourselves with referring the curious reader to their accounts.[54]
The Klemantans and some of the Kenyahs catch a small ground pigeon (CHALCOPHAPS INDICA) in large numbers by the aid of a pipe or whistle, by blowing softly on which the cooing notes of the bird are closely imitated. The instrument consists of a piece of large bamboo closed at one end and having a small hole about its middle (Fig. 25). The hunter, concealed behind a screen of leafy branches, blows across this hole through a long slender tube of bamboo; and when a bird approaches the whistle, he slips over its head a fine noose attached to the end of a light bamboo and, drawing it behind the screen, puts it alive into a cage.
Small parrots are sometimes caught with bird-lime, made with the juice of a rubber-tree.
The Gathering of Jungle Produce
The principal natural products gathered by the people in addition to the edible fruits are, gutta-percha, rubber, camphor, various rattans, beeswax and honey, vegetable tallow, wild sago, damar-resin from various trees, and the edible birds' nests.
Small parties of men and boys go out into the jungle in search of these things, sometimes travelling many days up river before striking into the jungle; for it is only in the drier upland forests that such expeditions can be undertaken with advantage. The party may remain several weeks or months from home. They carry with them a supply of rice, salt, and tobacco, cooking-pots and matches, a change of raiment, spears, swords, shields, blowpipes, and perhaps two or three dogs. On striking into the jungle, they drag their boat on to the bank and leave it hidden in thick undergrowth. While in the jungle they camp in rude shelters roofed with their leaf mats and with palm leaves, moving camp from time to time. They vary their labours and supplement their food-supply by hunting and trapping. Such an expedition is generally regarded as highly enjoyable as well as profitable. As in camping-parties in other parts of the world, the cooking is generally regarded as a nuisance to be shirked if possible. The Sea Dayaks indulge in these expeditions more frequently than others, and such parties of them may often be found at great distances from their homes. In the course of such long excursions they not infrequently penetrate into the regions inhabited by other tribes, and many troubles have had their origin in the truculent behaviour of such parties. Such parties of Sea Dayaks have been known to accept the hospitality of unsuspecting and inoffensive Klemantans, and to outrage every law of decency by taking the heads of old men, women, and children during the absence of their natural defenders.
Valuable varieties of gutta-percha are obtained from trees of more than a score of species. The best is known as Kayan gutta, because it is gathered and sent to the bazaars by the Kayans in a pure form. The trees are felled and the stem and branches are ringed at intervals of about eighteen inches, a narrow strip of bark being removed at each ring. The milky viscid sap drips out into leaf-cups, which are then emptied into a cylindrical vessel of bark. Water is then boiled in a large pan beside the tree, a little common salt is added to the water, and the gutta is poured into the boiling water, when it rapidly congeals. Then, while still in a semiviscid state, it is kneaded with the feet and pressed into a shallow wooden frame, which in turn is compressed between two planks. In this way it is moulded into a slab about one and a half inches thick, about a foot long, and about six inches across at one end, two inches across at the other. While it is still warm a hole is pierced through the narrower end; and the slab is then thrown into cold water, where it sets hard. In this form it reaches the market at Singapore, where it is valued at about five hundred dollars ([pound sterling]50) the hundredweight.
Gutta of an inferior quality is obtained in large quantities by tapping a large tree (JELUTONG) which grows abundantly in the low-lying jungles.
The best rubber, known as PULUT by the Kayans, is obtained by them from a creeper, the stem of which grows to a length of fifty to a hundred feet and a diameter of six inches or more. It bears a brilliant red luscious fruit which is eaten by the people; its seeds being swallowed become distributed in this way. The Punans carefully sow the seed they have swallowed, and transplant the young seedlings to the most suitable positions. The milky juice of the creeper is gathered and treated in much the same way as the gutta. It is rolled up while hot into spherical lumps, each of which is pierced with a hole for convenient transportation.
Camphor is formed in the crevices of the sterns of old trees of the species DRYOBALANOPS AROMATICA, when the heart is decayed leaving a central hollow. The tree is cut down, the stem split up, and the crystalline scales of pure camphor are shaken out on to mats. It is then made up in little bundles wrapped in palm leaves. The large-flaked camphor fetches as much as [pound sterling]6 a pound in the Chinese bazaar. Special precautions are observed by men in search of camphor. A party of Kayans, setting out to seek camphor, commonly gets the help of Punans, who are acknowledged experts in this business. Omens are taken before setting out, and the party will not start until favourable omens have been observed. The party is LALI from the time of beginning these operations. They will speak to no one outside the party, and will speak no word of Malay to one another; and it is considered that they are more likely to be successful if they confine themselves to the use of a peculiar language which seems to be a conventional perversion of the Punan speech.
On entering a small river the party stretches a rattan across its mouth; and, where they leave the river, they erect on the bank a pole or frayed stick.[55] Other persons seeing such sticks set up will understand and respect the party's desire for privacy. They then march through the jungle to the place where they expect to find a group of camphor trees, marking their path by bending the ends of twigs at certain intervals in the direction in which the party is moving. Having found a likely tree they cut into the stem with a small long-bladed axe, making a deep small hole. An expert, generally a Punan, then smells the hole and gives an opinion as to the chances of finding camphor within it. If he gives a favourable opinion, the tree is cut down and broken in pieces as described above. On cutting down the tree, an oil which smells strongly of camphor sometimes pours out and is collected. The party remains LALI until the collection of the camphor is completed; no stranger may enter their hut or speak with them. The practice of collecting camphor in this way is probably a very ancient one,[56] whereas the collection of gutta and rubber has been undertaken only in recent years in response to the demands of the European market.
Many varieties of the rattan palm grow luxuriantly in the forests of Borneo, some attaining a length of 150 to 200 feet. It is a creeper which makes its way towards the light, suspending itself to branches and twigs by means of the curved spines which prolong the midribs of the leaves. The cane is collected by cutting through the stem near its root, and hauling on it, several men combining their t'efforts. The piece cut down is dragged through the jungle to the river-bank. There it is cut into lengths of fifteen feet, I.E. two and a half spans, and dried in the sun. If the sap is thoroughly dried out, the cane assumes a permanent yellow colour; but if any is left, the cane darkens when soaked in water. When a large number of bundles has been collected, they are bound together to form a raft. On this a hut is erected, and two or three men will navigate the raft down river to the Chinese bazaar, which is to be found in the lower part of every large river.
The small yellow fruit of the rattan is gathered in large quantities and subjected to prolonged boiling. The fluid becomes of a bright crimson colour; this, boiled down till it has the consistency of beeswax, is known as dragon's blood, and is used by the people as a colouring matter and also exported for the same purpose.
Honey and beeswax are found in nests which are suspended by the wild bee from high branches of the MINGRIS (COOMPASSIA) and TAPANG (ARBOURIA) trees, sometimes many nests on one tree. To reach the nest the men climb the tree by the aid of a ladder somewhat in the fashion of a steeple-jack. A large number of sharpened pegs of ironwood are driven into the softer outer layers of the stem in a vertical row about two feet apart, and bamboos are lashed in a single vertical row to the pegs and to one another and to the lower branches. The ladder is built up until at some sixty or eighty feet from the ground it reaches a branch bearing a nest. The taking of the nests is usually accomplished after nightfall. A man ascends the ladder carrying in one hand a burning torch of bark, which gives off a pungent smoke, and on his back a large hollow cone of bark. Straddling out along the bough, he hangs his cone of bark beneath the nest, smokes out the bees, and cuts away the nest from the bough with his sword, so that it falls into the cone of bark. Then, choosing a piece of comb containing grubs, he munches it with gusto, describing from his position of advantage to his envious friends the delicious quality of the grubs. After thus gathering two or three nests he lets down the cone with a cord to his eagerly expectant comrades, who then feast upon the remaining grubs and squeeze out the honey into jars. The tree having been cleared of nests in this way, the wax is melted in an iron pot and moulded in balls. The honey is eaten in the houses; the wax is sold to the Chinese traders at about a shilling a pound.
Vegetable tallow is procured from the seeds of the ENGKABONG tree (SHOREA). The seeds are crushed and the tallow melted out and gathered in bamboos. It is used as a food, generally smeared on hot rice. It is sometimes a principal feature of the Punan's diet for considerable periods.
Wild sago is abundant and is much used by Punans, and occasionally by most of the other peoples when their supply of PADI is short. The sago tree is cut down and its stem is split into several pieces with wedges. The pith is knocked out with a bamboo mallet. The sago is prepared from the pith by the women, who stamp it on coarse mats, pouring water upon it. The fine grains of sago are carried through on to a trough below. It is then washed and boiled in water, when it forms a viscid mass; this is eaten with a spoon or with a strip of bamboo bent double, the two ends of which are turned round in the sago and withdrawn with a sticky mass adherent; this is plunged in the gravy OF pork and carried to the mouth. It is generally considered a delicacy.
Many varieties of the forest trees exude resins, which are collected and used for torches and for repairing boats, as well as brought to the bazaars, where the best kinds fetch very good prices. Sometimes the resin is found in large masses on the ground where it has dripped from the trees.
A curious and valuable natural product is the bezoar stone. These stones are found in the gall-bladder and intestines of the long-tailed monkey SEMNOPITHECUS (most frequently of S. HOSEI and S. RUBICUNDUS). They are formed of concentric layers of a hard, brittle, olive-green substance, very bitter to the taste. A soft brown variety is found in the porcupine. Both kinds are highly valued by the Chinese as medicine. The monkeys and porcupines are hunted for the sake of these stones. A similar substance, also highly valued as a medicine by the Chinese, is sometimes found as an accretion formed about the end of a dart which has been broken off in the flesh of S. HOSEI and has remained there for some long period.
The most important of the natural products gathered by the people are the edible nests of three species of swift: COLLOCALIA FUCIPHAGA, whose nest is white; C. LOWII, whose nest is blackish; and C. LINCHII, whose nest contains straw and moss as well as gelatine. All three kinds are collected, but those of the first kind are much more valuable than the others. The nest, which is shaped like that of our swallow, consists wholly of a tough, gelatinous, translucent substance, which exudes from the bill of the bird as it builds. We do not understand the physiology of this process. The people generally believe that the substance of the nest is dried seafoam which the birds bring from the sea on returning from their annual migration.
The nests are built always on the roofs and walls of large caves: the white nests in low-roofed caves, generally in sandstone rock; the black in the immense lofty caves formed in the limestone rocks. The latter are reached by means of tall scaffoldings of strong poles of bamboo, often more than a hundred feet in height. The nests are swept from the rock with a pole terminating in a small iron spatula, and carrying near the extremity a wax candle; falling to the ground, which is floored with guano several feet thick, they are gathered up in baskets. The white nests are gathered three times in the year at intervals of about a month, the black nests usually only twice; as many as three tons of black nests are sometimes taken from one big cave in the course of the annual gathering. Each cave, or, in the case of large caves, each natural subdivision of it, is claimed as the property of some individual, who holds it during his lifetime and transmits it to his heirs. During the gathering of the nests of a large cave, the people live in roofless huts built inside it. The nests are sold to Chinese traders — the black nests for about a hundred dollars a hundredweight, and the white nests for as much as thirty or forty shillings per pound.