The Durian is, however, sometimes dangerous. When the fruit begins to
ripen it falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently
happen to persons walking or working under the trees. When a Durian
strikes a man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound, the strong
spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy; but
from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion
of blood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. A
Dyak chief informed me that he had been struck down by a Durian falling
on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet
he recovered in a very short time.
Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have
thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that their fall
should be harmless to man, while the large ones trailed on the ground.
Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, however, the Brazil-nut
fruit (Bertholletia) and Durian, grow on lofty forest trees, from which
they fall as soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native
inhabitants. From this we may learn two things: first, not to draw
general conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and secondly,
that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal
kingdom, do not appear to be organized with exclusive reference to the
use and convenience of man.
During my many journeys in Borneo, and especially during my various
residences among the Dyaks, I first came to appreciate the admirable
qualities of the Bamboo. In those parts of South America which I had
previously visited, these gigantic grasses were comparatively scarce;
and where found but little used, their place being taken as to one class
of uses by the great variety of Palms, and as to another by calabashes
and gourds. Almost all tropical countries produce Bamboos, and wherever
they are found in abundance the natives apply them to a variety of
uses. Their strength, lightness, smoothness, straightness, roundness and
hollowness, the facility and regularity with which they can be split,
their many different sizes, the varying length of their joints, the
ease with which they can be cut and with which holes can be made through
them, their hardness outside, their freedom from any pronounced taste
or smell, their great abundance, and the rapidity of their growth and
increase, are all qualities which render them useful for a hundred
different purposes, to serve which other materials would require much
more labour and preparation. The Bamboo is one of the most wonderful
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