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Several old men, now dead, had their bodies, even their backs, legs, and faces, covered with tatu marks, and one thus decorated was said still to be living. Near the kampong Pendahara, where we camped the first night, were many of the majestic tapang trees which I first noticed on the Barito.
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.
He said what was true enough that at such a height they might miss the bear; or, even if they should hit him, a bullet would scarce bring him down unless it should strike him in a vital part. In the contingency of their missing, or only slightly wounding him, the animal would at once ascend further up into the tapang; and, hidden behind the leaves and branches, might defy them.
On the Barito, from the deck of the Otto, I had observed similar contrivances on still taller trees of the same kind called tapang, which are left standing when the jungle is cleared to make ladangs. A few days later the rest of our party arrived and, having picked up six rubber gatherers, brought the remainder of the luggage from their camp.
The young hunters, who were close behind him, could see that there were scratches upon the soft succulent bark, as if caused by the claws of some animal; but, almost as soon as they had made the observation, their eyes were directed to the animal itself. Away up on the tall tapang just where its lowest limbs parted from the main stem a black body could be distinguished.
With the decorative designs of the hilt of the sword must be classed those of its sheath. The sheath consists of two slips of TAPANG wood firmly lashed together with finely plaited rattan strips, both strips being hollowed so that they fit closely to the blade. It is provided with a plaited cord, which buckles about the waist. The inner piece of the sheath is smooth inside and out.
The most striking thing about this valley was its dense gloom, the huge forest-trees of Tapang, Pli, and other kinds, excluding every ray of light, excepting where here and there a bright patch of blue sky peeped in through the thick trellis-work of branches overhead. Beautiful palms, kladiums, and tree ferns, grew in profusion around us, and rare orchids filled the air with their sweet perfumes.
The tapang rarely falls all the way, but only upon the tops of the trees that stand thickly round; and as the Bornean bear can climb and cling like a monkey, he is never shaken out of the branches, but springs from them into some other tree among the thick leaves of which he may conceal himself; or, by getting to the ground, manage to steal off.
On asking their Dyak guide the name of this remarkable tree, he said it was called the tapang. This, however, gave no information regarding its species; but Alexis, shortly after, in passing under one, observed some flowers that had fallen from its top; and having examined one of these, pronounced the tree a species of ficus a very common genus in the islands of the Indian Archipelago.
The three now took their respective stands behind three trees that formed a sort of triangle around the tapang; and the guide, who had no gun, placed himself apart holding his kris in readiness to finish off the bear, should the animal be only wounded. There was no danger to be dreaded from the encounter.
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