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Up to this time you have thought, perhaps, there was only one, and that was the palm-tree itself. Maybe you have heard of more, such as the sago-palm, the cocoa-nut palm, the date-palm, or the cabbage-palm; and you fancied there might be others perhaps as many as a dozen!
The walls are of stone up to three feet high; on this are strong squared posts supporting the roof, everywhere except in the verandah filled in with the leaf-stems of the sago-palm, fitted neatly in wooden owing. The floor is of stucco, and the ceilings are like the walls.
We soon resumed our journey, on foot, passing through very varied country, plains covered with tall grass and bounded by forest, through which at times we passed. At other times we had to force our way through thick swamps in which the sago-palm abounded, from the trunks of which the natives extract sago in great quantities.
Here the first point of importance is to get a good cook who is a good baker, and supply him with American flour. Toddy from the sago-palm is an excellent substitute for yeast, and I imagine it must be better, for I never get better, and very seldom as good, bread anywhere in the world as I do in my Indian home in the jungle.
As they climbed the steep, winding road among the hills and rose out of the damp heat of the Plains, Fred declared that he felt better at once in the cool refreshing breezes that swept down from the lofty peaks above. The forest fell away behind them. The great teak and sal trees gave place to the lighter growths of bamboo, plantain, and sago-palm.
We had to pass one large river, by a rude but substantial bridge, and to wade through another fine pebbly stream of clear water, just beyond which the little but was situated. It was very small, not raised on posts, but with the earth for a floor, and was built almost entirely of the leaf-stems of the sago-palm, called here "gaba-gaba."
Rubber is still a source of income to the Malays and Dayaks, and the rattan and bamboo, on which the very existence of the natives depends, grow everywhere. The sago-palm and a great number of valuable wild fruits are found, such as the famous durian, mangosteen, lansat, rambutan, and others.
Some of the men were armed with narrow bamboo shields, others with wooden swords, and the remainder with the light stems of the sago-palm, which were to be used as javelins. Each of these warriors came dancing up to us in turn, to make his obeisance, as we advanced to the spot where seats had been prepared for us. As soon as we were all seated the dance commenced.
So eager were we to find water, that the instant we had hauled the boat up out of reach of the seas, we began running along the beach. The island was a small one, with numerous palm and other trees growing on it. I eagerly looked out for the sago-palm, remembering that it was in a grove of one of these trees we had found water on our island. We searched and searched in vain.
I paid him one or two visits, and found him enjoying his existence excessively. His house had of course only one floor: the walls for five feet were of stone; the roof was supported above them on strong squared posts, the interval being filled in with the leaf-stems of the sago-palm fitted in wooden framings. The ceilings were of the same material. The floor was of stucco.
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