Dyaks who were with me to cut down the tree, which was tall, perfectly
straight and smooth-barked, and without a branch for fifty or sixty
feet. To my surprise, they said they would prefer climbing up it, but it
would be a good deal of trouble, and, after a little talking together,
they said they would try. They first went to a clump of bamboo that
stood near, and cut down one of the largest stems. From this they
chopped off a short piece, and splitting it, made a couple of stout
pegs, about a foot long and sharp at one end. Then cutting a thick piece
of wood for a mallet, they drove one of the pegs into the tree and hung
their weight upon it. It held, and this seemed to satisfy them, for they
immediately began making a quantity of pegs of the same kind, while I
looked on with great interest, wondering how they could possibly ascend
such a lofty tree by merely driving pegs in it, the failure of any one
of which at a good height would certainly cause their death. When about
two dozen pegs were made, one of them began cutting some very long and
slender bamboo from another clump, and also prepared some cord from the
bark of a small tree. They now drove in a peg very firmly at about three
feet from the ground, and bringing one of the long bamboos, stood it
upright close to the tree, and bound it firmly to the two first pegs, by
means of the bark cord and small notches near the head of each peg.
One of the Dyaks now stood on the first peg and drove in a third, about
level with his face, to which he tied the bamboo in the same way, and
then mounted another step, standing on one foot, and holding by the
bamboo at the peg immediately above him, while he drove in the next one.
In this manner he ascended about twenty feet; when the upright bamboo
was becoming thin, another was handed up by his companion, and this was
joined by tying both bamboos to three or four of the pegs. When this
was also nearly ended, a third was added, and shortly after, the lowest
branches of the tree were reached, along which the young Dyak scrambled,
and soon sent the Mias tumbling down headlong. I was exceedingly struck
by the ingenuity of this mode of climbing, and the admirable manner in
which the peculiar properties of the bamboo were made available. The
ladder itself was perfectly safe, since if any one peg were loose or
faulty, and gave way, the strain would be thrown on several others
above and below it. I now understood the use of the line of bamboo pegs
sticking in trees, which I had often seen, and wondered for what purpose
they could have been put there. This animal was almost identical in size
and appearance with the one I had obtained at Semabang, and was the only
other male specimen of the Simia morio which I obtained. It is now in
the Derby Museum.
52