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.