Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

182 AUSTRALASIA.and rosins. On the flanks of Kiua-Balu, noted for its numerous varieties of thepitcher-plant, botanists have observed a remarkable intermingling of Indian,Malayan, and Australian species. On the muddy coastlands flourishes the valuablesago tree {Mdroxi/lon sagus Ruiiiphii), which yields its nutritive sap in suchabundance that the province of Sarawak alone supplies more than half of thesago exported from tropical lands. A single plant of average size furnishes athousand cakes, with a total weight of about seven hundred pounds, a quantitysufiicient to support one man for a twelvemonth, yet not needing more than someten days' easy labour for its production.Fauna.Like its flora, the fauna of Borneo possesses several species giving it a peculiarphysiognomy.Almost every island has some characteristic animal, and the contrastspresented by these insular faunas has enabled naturalists to conjecture therelative ages when the islands became detached from each other.Thus Sumatraand Borneo must have still formed continuous land when Java was already aseparate region.Hence the narrow Sunda Strait would appear to be older thanthe broad but shallow Sea of Borneo. This inference is confirmed by the conformityof the faunas between Borneo and Sumatra, and their relative differencebetween the latter island and Java.Amongst the animals which appear to have originated in Boi'neo, the mostremarkable is the mias, or orang-utan, that is, "man of the woods" [Simia sdtyrus),also met in North Sumatra. He is found in every part of Borneo, but all attemptsto tame him have hitherto resulted in failure. Nearly all the captured specimensdie of consumption, even when retained in the vicinity of their native forests-The Dayaks assert that the mias fears neither rhinoceros, tiger, nor wild boar, andthat he will even face the crocodile and python.It was long doubted whether theelephant and rhinoceros formed part of the Bornean fauna, but although theyhave disappeared from the Dutch provinces, they are still met in herds nearSandakan, in British territory. The Bornean tiger is a distinct species, and herealso occur two varieties of the crocodile found nowhere else,IXHABITAXTS OF BoRNEO.Mention is often made of a jjeculiar race of aborigines dwelling in the midstof the forests, and the natives themselves are fond of talking about the Orang-Buntut, or " Tailed Men," said to dwell in the central regions. Many Arab,Malay, and native travellers claim to have seen them, squatting on little stoolswith holes made for the convenience of inserting their caudal appendix. Evenrecently the explorer, Carl Bock, searched, though in vain, for these tailed peopleamong.st the inhabitants of the highlands, between the Barito and Pasir basins.But apart from these Buntuts, Borneo still harbours many absolutely savagepeoples. Such are the Puans of the central regions, and the Njavongs of theKahajan basin, who live in the forests unsheltered even by a screen of foliagefrom sun or rain. Their only garment is a loin-cloth, their weapon the blow-pipe,