F. W. Burbidge

“ Above you is a world of light and air and sunshine which birds, insects, and flowers alike enjoy. You feel very small and helpless as you try to catch a glimpse of the plants and flowers so high above you, and almost envy the long-armed red monkeys that swing themselves so easily from bough to bough. The monkey, however, has a rival in the human natives of these forest wilds, and it would be extremely puzzling to find a tree so thick, or tall, or otherwise so difficult to climb, that the lithe and dusky native would fail to reach its summit. ”

“ I had no means of ascertaining whether this is really a distinct species, or whether it is conspecific with the large nocturnal fruit-bat of Borneo, immense flocks of which may be seen passing overhead at dusk to their feeding-grounds, the fruit orchards.
Of all the smaller forms of animal life in temperate countries the butterflies are the most absolutely beautiful. In the tropics they are especially so, being there found of the largest size and most lovely hues. In the rice fields and by the open pathways, lively little golden-winged kinds flutter in the sunshine. ”

“ After paddling about a mile we landed, and after walking through several clearings in the hot sun, the primæval forest was at length reached, where it was much cooler and more pleasant, the sun’s rays being screened from us by the masses of leaves, epiphytes, and flowers overhead. After mountain climbing, and the wonders of the sea, perhaps nothing suggests one’s own littleness more forcibly than a walk through the old forests which exist in tropical lowlands. ”

“ In a word, the durian is a natural macédoine—one of Dame Nature’s “made dishes”—and if it be possible for you to imagine the flavour of a combination of corn flour and rotten [309] cheese, nectarines, crushed filberts, a dash of pine-apple, a spoonful of old dry sherry, thick cream, apricot-pulp, and a soupçon of garlic, all reduced to the consistency of a rich custard, you have a glimmering idea of the durian, but, as before pointed out, the odour is almost unmentionable—perfectly indescribable, except it be as “the fruit with the fragrant stink!” ”

“ The road from the falls to the summit is in places very steep, and the muscles of one’s legs feel it ere the end of the journey is reached. Many of those who read of jungle travel at home will be sure to imagine it very pleasant to explore a tropical forest, accompanied by a posse of native guides and carriers—with gun on shoulder, and luxuriant vegetation on all sides, and an occasional shot at a big monkey or a beautiful bird overhead. ”

“ Some are quite wholly golden, others amber, with black fringes to their wings; many varieties enliven the river margins, and others sail aloft around the tops of the great forest trees. The nearly dry bed of a forest stream is an attractive spot to many of the finest tropical butterflies, especially if it be chequered with shade and sunshine. In such a place they may be seen by the hundred, flitting, fluttering, skimming or wobbling to and fro, enlivening the cool greenery with their colour, beauty, and variety of motion. ”

“ There are times when the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the China Sea lie sleeping in the sunshine, and a steamer runs as smoothly as a canal boat. Of course a yachtsman of the old sea-dog school is disgusted with this sort of fine weather sailing; but it is most pleasant to passengers on board steamships who can lie and read under the cool side of the awning, drinking in the fresh ozonised sea air, untroubled for the nonce by the cares of business or the whirl and bustle of the town. ”

“ For dinner we had boiled fowl and rice, followed by coffee and a cigarette of native tobacco wrapped in maize-husk. We lay on our mats and rugs at one end of the large public room, all our men being cooking and jabbering away to their hearts’ content, the Babel of sounds, partly Malay and partly Dusun, being deafening. ”

“ The markets are full to overflowing with edibles of all kinds; meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit lie about in glorious profusion. Here a heap of fresh fish of the most vivid colours, there a pile of yellow pine-apples or bright scarlet chilies, oranges, pomoloes, mangosteen and rambutan, Chinese long beans, fresh green lettuces and young onions, tomatoes, and the hundred and one elements of native cookery, which are perfectly unintelligible to any but native eyes. Chinese coolies coming in from the interior of the island laden with fruit and vegetables, or other commodities. ”

“ Butterflies come with wobbling motion down the sunny clearing, formed by the shallow stream; and, as we are intent on the cold fowl and coffee, which forms our breakfast, the sanguinary stains on our white trousers prove that the wily jungle-leech has not been unmindful of his morning meal. How this little slimy monster loves to gorge himself with gore! The wonder, however, is how they exist when men are absent from the jungle they infest, as often happens. I suspect that human blood forms simply an accidental part of their supply. I know they exact all they can from the water buffaloes ”

“ Borneo is the home of the “Orang-utan,” or “wild man of the woods,” an animal which, with its African relative, the “Gorilla,” has occupied the attention of so many of the first thinkers of our time. Here, in its native forests, this large man-like ape lives in the great natural orchards, swinging itself from bough to bough with its peculiarly long arms, building its platform or nest of leafy branches, and eating its meal of fruit in peace. “Let any naturalist,” says a modern observer, “who is prejudiced against the Darwinian views go to the forests of Borneo. ”

“ The interior of the island is flat and marshy; and here the soil being deep and alluvial, it is well adapted for rice; and the wet patches beside the streams suit the sago palm well. In the patches of low jungle beside the roads three or four species of pitcher plants abound, rooting into the wet, sandy peat earth, and climbing up the shrubby undergrowth in the most luxuriant and graceful manner. These nepenthes stems are wonderfully tough, and are used as withes, and as a substitute for rattan cane in tying fence timbers together. More rarely they are used in basket-work. ”

“ Breakfast over, we started off in excellent spirits up a gently rising path leading past a burial ground, and beneath some of the finest Durian trees in the island. A newly made grave ornamented with flowers and the young flower-stems of the betel-nut palm, was pointed out to us as being that of a man who had been shot at the Istana in a squabble about one of the ladies of the court. It appears that the man’s wife having died he wanted to carry off a relation of his who now belonged to the Sultana’s suite, and in the row which followed he met with his death. ”

“ Our road got worse and worse, now through tall coarse grasses which, arching overhead, nearly excluded daylight, then through bits of forest where one’s face was in danger from overhanging boughs and creepers, crossing dirty streamlets, and clambering over roots and stones, while in places the path suddenly dropped downwards into a sort of slimy trough or drain, the sides of which were as high as the saddle, and down which one’s buffalo slided rather than walked. ”

“ Most of the women to be seen in the market are old and coarse featured—in many cases positively ugly—reminding one of the orang utan as they glance at you from beneath their wrinkled foreheads, their mouths overflowing with betel-nut juice the while, their repulsive black teeth being worn off level with their gums; their more beautiful sisters are secluded according to the etiquette of Islam; the nobles and richer Malays have wives and slaves in abundance. ”

“ Cultivation near the capital is, however, of a poor description, compared with the plains of Menkabong, Tawaran, and Tampassuk, or the hills further inland.
A lover of nature who sees a tropical country for the first time, cannot help but enjoy the bright light and heat, the vegetable glories of flower, fruit, and leaf, called forth by the rain and sunshine—of a clime where winter is unknown. And yet, with all the sunshine and showers, the tropical blossoms are in a way aristocratic and exclusive, and never mingle socially in bosky masses, as do our own wildings ”

“ They folded their brown arms around their necks, and whispered loving gossip into their ears, evidently well contented with themselves and with each other; and, perhaps, their love is as real and as ardent and as true here as it is in high places where dress clothes are worn. The farther one travels, the more plainly [111] does one see how deep rooted and how world-wide are all the springs of human feeling, whether of love and joy, or death and sadness; in every land and in every breast is written the great truth, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” ”

“ We found the little hut on the summit rather out of repair, but a little labour in strengthening the principal supports of the roof, and the addition of a little palm-leaf thatch, made it more comfortable. We enjoyed a magnificent sunset, and lit our lamps just at dusk, nor were we loath to make a hearty meal of warm soup, rice and tea, which had been prepared while we looked around our camping ground. After a smoke and a chat we wrapped our rugs around us and were soon asleep on the side benches of sticks covered with freshly-cut palm-leaves. ”

“ The Chinese whom we found here were very much interested and surprised at our visit, and gave us a supply of cocoa-nuts, oranges, and papaw fruit from their garden. The latter fruit are as large as a small Cadiz melon, with delicate red flesh, when perfectly ripe. They are not much esteemed; but I thought these very nice, having a flavour resembling that of apricots. The colourless milk of the young cocoa-nuts, fortified by just a soupçon of brandy, tasted really delicious, after our tramp under a hot sun. These thrifty Chinese had a fine flourishing plantation of bananas, but no ripe fruit ”

“ All is mist and cloud below us except seaward, where a strip of the coast line and the rivers towards Menkabong and Gaya are visible. I can see the great fall very plainly coming down the face of the rock opposite, just where it disappears into the wooded gully, below there is a magnificent grove of tree ferns, and as I am fully a thousand feet above them, I can look down on their expanded clusters of fresh green fronds, and the effect in the morning sunlight is past all description. ”

“ A public square, planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers, forms an oasis in the midst of the desert of dusty streets, and white-washed or stucco houses. Most of the houses are two-storied, and furnished with cool, shady verandahs; and in some cases they are covered with the green drapery of a large convolvulus, which adds much to the picturesque effect of walls and fences throughout the place. In the gardens, bananas, date-palms, bamboo, and other vegetation common to hothouses at home, here grow in the open air, with no other protection than that afforded by a belt of tall reeds. ”

“ If we except the Sarawak principality and the Dutch possessions to the southward and eastward, Borneo may be called a perfectly wild country—a land where laws, jails, horses, roads, and missionaries are unknown. The future prospects of this tropical island, so rich in natural products, so fertile under rude cultivation, and withal so extensive and beautiful, are deserving of more than a passing notice. A large proportion of the country is hilly, and covered with old forest. Near the coast the land is generally well watered by shallow rivers. ”