As the party proceeded onward, they observed several other tapang-trees, with ladders attached to them; and at the bottom of one of these—which was the tallest they had yet seen—the guide made a halt.
Taking off his kris, and throwing to the ground an axe, which he had brought along, he commenced ascending the tree.
Our hunters inquired his object. They knew it could not be either honey or wax. There had been a bees’ nest upon this tree—as the ladder told—but that had been removed long ago; and there now appeared nothing among the branches that should make it worth while to climb up to them. The answer of the bee-hunter explained his purpose. He was merely ascending to have a lookout over the forest—which in that neighbourhood could not be obtained by any other means than by the climbing of a tapang.
It was fearful to watch the man ascending to such a dizzy height, and with such a flimsy, uncertain support beneath his feet. It reminded them of what they had seen at the Palombière of the Pyrenees.
The Dyak soon reached the top of the ladder; and for some ten minutes or more clung there—screwing his head around, and appearing to examine the forest on all sides. At length his head rested steadily upon his shoulders; and his gaze appeared to be fixed in one particular direction. He was too distant for the party at the bottom of the tree to note the expression upon his countenance; but his attitude told them that he had made some discovery.
Shortly after he came down; and reported this discovery in laconic phrase, simply saying:—
“Bruang—see him!”
The hunters knew that “bruang” was the Malayan name for bear; and the coincidence of this word with the sobriquet “Bruin” had already led them to indulge in the speculation, as to whether the latter might not have originally come from the East?
They did not stay to think of it then: for the guide, on regaining terra firma, at once started off—telling them to follow him.
After going rapidly about a quarter of a mile through the woods, the Dyak began to advance more cautiously—carefully examining each of the trunks of the tapangs that stood thinly scattered among the other trees.