Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)St. John, Spenser, Sir
History
Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)
St. John, Spenser, Sir
Borneo -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Borneo; St. John, Spenser, Sir, 1825-1910 -- Travel -- Borneo
Having secured some fruit of the Jintawan, or Indian-rubber plant,
and some cabbages, I was enabled to satisfy my hunger before going to
sleep, so put off taking any laudanum, to which I had a very great
dislike. The Jintawan fruit is very pleasantly acid, about the size of
a very large pear, and of a deep orange colour. It consists of a thick
rind full of Indian-rubber, surrounding some pulp-covered seeds. One
of the plants we came across was very handsome, growing in the most
luxuriant manner over a lofty tree with few branches. The Jintawan
is a creeper, and this one had extended itself at least forty feet
up the trunk and had covered the outspreading boughs. It was loaded
with fruit, but my men had so lost heart that not one would climb the
tree, but contented themselves with picking up the over-ripe produce
which had fallen on the ground below. We had another very happy
find to-day, for while passing under a fine tapang-tree, we noticed
the remains of a bees’ nest scattered about, and every particle was
eagerly appropriated. From the marks around it appeared as if a bear
had climbed this lofty tree and torn down the nest to be devoured by
its young below, as there were numerous tracks of the smaller animals
around, but whether the comb had been sucked by the bears or not was
very immaterial to our men, who rejoiced in securing the little honey
still clinging to it.
_16th._--Started early. About half my followers had so delayed
us by their constantly lagging behind, that I determined to wait for
them no longer, but to push on with such men as would follow me with
all their strength. We felt that it would be impossible to walk many
days farther on our scanty fare. The lazy ones having heard of our
arrangement, tried to keep up with us, and did do so till eight, when
I heard a shout from the foremost man, “Bandera! bandera!--the flag!
the flag!” We rushed down the side of the hill like madmen, the fellows
shouting for joy. Sure enough, there was the British flag hoisted, and
our small boats at the mouth of the Madihit, with our five men looking
fat and well beside my pale and famished followers. The rascals having
left my guns and all the baggage in the jungle, and all being in good
health, had managed to reach the Madihit in three days, and then set
to work to eat and drink as much as possible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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