Most Of The Way Was Through Fine Forest, The Trees Arching
Overhead To Shade Us From The Hot Sun, The
Only exception being when
we passed through a stretch of swamps, with low, tangled growth, when
the river broadened out,
But in the shady forest it was delightful,
gliding along to the music of the even dip of the paddles.
The most striking feature about the forest on this Menungal River
was the extraordinary growth of a species of banyan trees (FICUS
sp.). I have seen many curious stilted trees of this FICUS family in
various tropical countries I have visited, but these I think were more
curious than any I had ever seen. One hardly knew where they began and
where they ended, for they all seemed joined together, and roots and
branches seemed one and the same thing. It was the acme of vegetable
confusion. Even the river could not stop their progress, and we were
constantly gliding between their roots and branches. The growth of
ferns, orchids and parasites on the branches and roots of these trees
was luxuriant to a degree and formed veritable hanging gardens.
On these Bornean rivers one is constantly seeing pigs, crocodiles and
monkeys, but I noticed on this river an abundance of a monkey which
one seldom sees on the large Kinabatangan River. I refer to the very
curious proboscis or long-nosed monkey (NASALIS LARVATUS). These
animals often sat still overhead and stared down at us in the most
contemptuous and indifferent manner, and they looked so human and yet
so comical with their enormous red noses that I found myself laughing
aloud, our scullers doing the same, till the monkeys actually grinned
with indignation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 202 of 217
Words from 54829 to 55113
of 59060
